Outline of Chapter 28:

       vv.    1–2        Achish Expects David to Assist him in a War Against Israel

       vv.    3–5        The Stage is Set—the Philistine Army Gathers to War Against Israel

       vv.    6–7        God Will Not Answer Saul, so Saul Seeks out a Medium

       vv.    8–10      Saul Locates a Medium and Assures Her that She Will Not be Punished

       vv.   11–19      The Spiritist Conjures up Samuel from the Dead

       vv.   20–25      Saul Collapses, Understanding His Fate and is Strengthened with Food

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

       v.      1           The Wars Between Israel and Philistia up to the Death of Saul

       v.      3           Potential Spiritual Atlas’s for Israel

       v.      4           The Chronological Order of 1Samuel 28–29

       v.      4           How Mount Gilboa Fits into the History of Israel

       v.      6           Various Explanations of Saul and Urim

       v.      6           Has Saul Inquired of Jehovah or Not?

       v.      6           A few Points on a Personal Priest

       v.      6           Various Explanations of Saul and Urim

       v.     12           Why did God allow Samuel to be brought up from the dead?

       v.     14           Should Elohim be Understood as Singular or Plural Here?

       v.     15           Matthew Henry and John Gill’s Position: This is not Samuel; it is a Demon

       v.     15           Why Does God Speak to Saul Through Samuel?

       v.     15           Why Doesn’t Saul Mention Urim or the Priests?

       v.     16           1Samuel 28:16c from the Greek Septuagint

       v.     19           What Can We Learn from Saul’s Mistakes?

       v.     19           Gill Continues to Misinterpret 1Samuel 28

       v.     19           Clarke Presents the Correct Understanding of these Events

       v.     19           The Correct View of These Events

       v.     19           Why We Know this is Really Samuel

       v.     24           Why God the Holy Spirit does not Generally Reveal Historical Facts Otherwise Unknown to the Human Author

I ntroduction: History is a very difficult subject because nothing occurs in a vacuum. You cannot simply look at what is happening in this city or that; in this country or that country, and really get a full picture of what is really going on. 1Sam. 28 pulls things together. We have Saul, still not mentally sound, running the country of Israel. We have the natural animosity between the Israelites and the Philistines. We have David estranged from Israel and living in Philistia, 15 miles outside of Gath. We have an allied relationship between David and Achish, king of Gath, occurring. We have the natural suspicions of Philistine soldiers who have fought against David, or at least know of his reputation. We have David outside of Israel, outside of God’s geographical will, marking time while out of fellowship. We might entitle this rest of this book, When Worlds Collide. We simply have a lot of different factors which will come into play and affect everything else.

I would like to issue you a personal challenge at this point: read through this chapter and see what you can pick up on your own. This is a fairly entertaining chapter and one which is fairly easy to understand; so, pick up your favorite translation of this chapter and read away. See what you can get from this chapter. Decide how this chapter can be applied to your life. Decide on what theological points are being made. Determine what God is communicating to you through this chapter. I came up with about 150 pages of exegesis on this chapter, which a buttload of personal application and doctrine. The Hebrew exegesis takes up, perhaps 100 pages of this examination; however, that means that I have an additional 50 pages (or so) or explanatory material, personal application and doctrine. Could you, after reading this chapter, type out 50 pages of notes and application based upon what you read? Could you grasp the theological significance of what is happening in this chapter? Do you grasp even the most basic importance of Samuel being brought back from the dead to speak to Saul? Do you understand the importance of Saul’s final meal? Could you even write 5 pages of explanation, application and theology? God has provided this for you. If your forte is not going to the Word of God and extracting out all that God has for you there, don’t worry. That is not necessarily your job anyway. There are so many churches and pastors who tell their congregation to read their Bibles or to form personal study groups where a dozen or so people get together somewhere and discuss what they think is occurring. Do you know that there is no Biblical authorization to do this? None whatsoever. Now, don’t misunderstand me, the Bible does not list each and every spiritual gift, because, as time goes by, there is a call for additional gifts (some of which are quite the opposite of being spectacular).

Now let me get personal for a moment: I do not have the gift of evangelism; I do not have the gift of witnessing; I do not have the gift of prayer. I have witnessed to others, I do pray, but, I can guarantee you, these gifts are not my forte. This is not a problem for me. I don’t agonize day after day wondering if God will let me witness to more and more people each day—that is simply not my gift. I know the gospel inside and out; I can present the gospel in the most clear and concise way. However, I still do not have the gift of witnessing or evangelism. I know others who know the gospel, can talk to just any person off the street, tell them who Jesus Christ is, and other people will respond to them. I don’t have the gift of being a missionary; even though I love visiting foreign countries, there is nothing in me which would take me to another country, learn their language and customs, and then present the gospel to them in their own language, without imposing the customs I have grown accustomed to. However, what I am good at and what I enjoy doing is carefully Exegeting the Word of God. I enjoy using the many tools at my disposal (which came as a result of hundreds, if not thousands, of men who had diverse gifts) and not only translating the Word of God, but then plumbing the depths of each passage, wringing from it every bit of meaning that I can. God has given me everything that I need in order to do this. I am free of monetary concerns, I am free of logistical concerns; I can simply study and exegete the Word of God and I, quite frankly, enjoy doing it. You may or may not have this gift. However, you have another gift or gifts which is absolutely necessary to the plan of God. Not everyone on a football team is a pulling guard, a blocker, a quarterback, or whatever. If a football team came on the field with 12 place kickers, that coach would be fired so quickly, his head would spin. We all have different positions to play, and figuring out your spiritual gift (if you do not know it) is simply a matter of being filled with God the Holy Spirit and then advancing spiritually.

In mentioning all of that, I have left out the primary story line of this chapter: Saul goes to the witch of Endor for guidance. Even though he has been at odds with Samuel and even though he has been completely outside of God’s will for sometime, he is in a crisis situation and he recognizes just how much of a crisis this situation is. Samuel dies in this chapter, and Saul wants to consult with Samuel. This sets off a series of events along with divine intervention which is both tragic and humorous.

Keil and Delitzsch aptly summarize 1Sam. 28: The invasion of Israel by the Philistines, which brought David into so difficult a situation, drove king Saul to despair, so that in utter helplessness he had recourse to ungodly means of inquiring into the future, which he himself had formerly prohibited, and to his horror had to hear the sentence of his own death.

In the first two verses of this chapter, Achish makes David aware that he must join him war against Israel. The Latin Vulgate, by the way, places these two verses at the end of 1Sam. 27 instead, which is very prudent (however, their division of the rest of this book is a mess).

V. 3 sets us up for this chapter, telling us that Samuel has died and that Saul removed all of the mediums and spiritists from the land. In vv. 4–5, the Philistines gather their army against Israel and Saul is extremely afraid at this point. He tries to contact God, but God will not communicate with Saul (v. 6). Then Saul behaves like a dog returning to his vomit and asks his servants to find him a medium (v. 7).

Saul is apparently recognizable by the garb that he wears, so he slips into a disguise and goes with two men to Endor, where they know of a witch (v. 8). The woman is suspicious and worried for her own safety, but Saul assures her that nothing bad will happen to her for disobeying his law (vv. 9–10). As soon as Saul asks the woman to bring up Samuel, the woman sees Samuel and she screams—also, in a moment of clarity, she recognizes Saul (vv. 11–12). Saul tries to calm her, assuming that she brings dead people back all of the time, while she is scream that she sees God coming out of the earth (v. 13). Saul asks for a description of this one coming out of the earth, and she describes an old man which Saul recognizes as Samuel (v. 14). Then Samuel speaks to Saul, and reiterates what he has told Saul in the past: that God has taken the kingdom from him and given it to David (vv. 15–18). Then he adds, “And you and your sons will be with me tomorrow,” telling Saul that Israel will also be defeated by the Philistines in battle (v. 19). At this point, Saul becomes very despondent, falling on the ground from fear, which apparently also seized his strength (v. 20). The woman first tries to insure her own safety and then she and Saul’s men revive Saul (vv. 21–25).

I should mention that the chapters of 1Sam. 27–31 are not exactly in chronological order. They are presented more as vignettes all from a very short period of time (maybe a week). These chapters overlap in time, as well as being out of order. Therefore, in 1Sam. 31, I will lay out a time line; however, you will appreciate the time line more if you know all the events which have occurred and the various characters who played parts in those events.

I will want you to notice what will happen in this chapter: this is a simply narrative, and, if you read through the Bible in a year, you may have read thorough this chapter a dozen times with 2 minutes for each read. I have nothing against you reading the Bible or memorizing Scripture (or particularly Scriptural principles). However, what you will find in this chapter is a number of applications; a number of times when we can stop and look at what is happening and draw conclusions which relate directly to our lives here and now. You will never find that on a simple read-through. Only a pastor or an exegete can unearth this information and present it all to you.

Another fact of importance when it comes to exegesis: sometimes, the word-by-word, verse-by-verse study of a book may seem tedious. It takes you 5 one-hour classes to get through this chapter or that, when you can read that same chapter in 3 minutes. When it comes to learning the Word of God, it is not a race. You are not looking to be the first person who has learned every doctrine there is to learn. A pastor can dig and dig and dig into almost every chapter of Scripture and come up with great truths from God. When your pastor does so, just go with him, and enjoy the view. Don’t worry that it might take you 3 years to plow through the book of 1Samuel; just enjoy the experience and learn from it.

Achish Expects David to Assist him in a War Against Israel

These first two verses are really a part of 1Sam. 29, which actually precedes 1Sam. 28:3–25 in time.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so he is in the days the those and so gathers Philistines their camps to the war to engage in war in Israel. And so says Achish unto David, “Understanding you understand that with me you go out in the camps—you and your men.”

Septuagint                             And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered themselves together with their armies to go out to fight with Israel. And Anchus said to David, “Know surely that you will go forth to battle with me; and your men.”

Significant differences:          No significant differences.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Samuel had died some time earlier, and people from all over Israel had attended his funeral in his hometown of Ramah. Meanwhile, Saul had been trying to get rid of everyone who spoke with the spirits of the dead. But one day the Philistines brought their soldiers together to attack Israel. Achish told David, "Of course, you know that you and your men must fight as part of our Philistine army." David answered, "That will give you a chance to see for yourself just how well we can fight!" "In that case," Achish said, "you and your men will always be my bodyguards.” [vv. 1–3].

The Message                         During this time the Philistines mustered their troops to make war on Israel. Achish said to David, "You can count on this: You're marching with my troops, you and your men.”

NLT                                        About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your men will be expected to join me in battle.”

TEV                                       Some time later the Philistines gathered their troops to fight Israel, and Achish said to David, “Of course you understand that you and your men are to fight on my side.”

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         At that time the Philistines had gathered their army to fight against Israel. Then Achish said to David, "You need to know that you and your men will be going with me into battle.”

JPS (Tanakh)                        At that time the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to take the fiel against Israel. Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out with my forces.”

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

ESV                                       In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.”

HCSB                                    At that time, the Philistines brought their military units together into one army to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "You know, of course, that you and your men must march out in the army with me.”

WEB                                      It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, Know assuredly that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men.

Young's Updated LT              And it comes to pass in those days, that the Philistines gather their camps for the war, to fight against Israel, and Achish says unto David, “You do certainly know that with me you do go out into the camp, you and your men.”

What is the gist of this verse? The Philistines decided to make another move against Israel. Achish tells David that he is expected to be allied with the Philistine army.

These first couple verses seem oddly out of place in this chapter. These are the only two verses which will deal with David and Achish; the rest of this chapter is all about Saul and the witch of Endor. The Latin Bible places these two verses with the previous chapter (which is reasonable and logical—however the Latin Bible then makes a mess out of the chapter divisions which follow).

Translation: And it happened [or, and it came to pass; lit., and it was] in those days... The author of this book is making certain that it is clear that the events of this chapter fall during the same time period that David is living with his men in Philistia. In fact, we may, simply because of these words (and also because of some other things which will be stated in the next chapter), that this falls within the time frame of the year and four months that David is living in Philistia (1Sam. 27:7). David has made raids on Gentile encampments in that general area, but he has told Achish that he is raiding Israel and Israel’s allies.

This phrase is often used to begin a series of events, related in time to what has just occurred. This helps to explain why we have a chapter division at this point in the Masoretic text.

Translation: ...the Philistines congregated their camps for war to fight against Israel.... The fact that we have a congregation of Philistines means that the five main cities of the Philistines had gathered together to fight against Israel. This suggests that there will be a commanding general from each city (like Achish of Gath) and under them would be additional commanders. This helps to explain what otherwise might appear to be a breakdown in the command structure in 1Sam. 29.

The Philistines were always looking to break out of their area and to claim more territory for themselves. They continually moved against Israel, to take away land for themselves. This was a typical time when the Philistine armies were gathered to attack Israel. What we don’t find in Scripture is whether there was much of an exchange of land in these wars. Israel did not seem to take Philistine territory; that is, Israel rarely is the aggressor in these skirmishes. However, we have seen many times when Philistia moves against Israel.

I have mentioned just how messy the border between Israel and Philistia was. The Philistines apparently had owned Beth shan for much of its history, even though that is right in the midst of Manasseh. We have a hard time grasping that, as our borders tend to be quite clear, well-marked, and contiguous. However, what we find here is not unlike Israel in modern history. There are a few streets which are considered Palestinian, a few which are considered Israeli; and there are people of the wrong type living in each. The borders of Israel at the time of this writing are relatively fluid, and so it was in the days of Saul and before. In fact, there were apparently whole cities within Israel’s borders which were essentially controlled by heathen (Judges 1:27, for instance).

Translation: ...Furthermore [lit., and], Achish said to David, “You fully understand that you will go out with me in the camps... Achish calls David in (which is more likely than Achish going to David directly) and tells him, “You understand that, as a part of this country, you must take part in our military maneuvers.” The idea is, it did not matter whether these attacks were against Israel or anyone else. Furthermore, since Achish thought that David was attacking southern Judah anyway, that expecting David to join him was an easy thing to ask. This obviously puts David in a very tough spot. He is beholden to Achish; it appears as though he has already spent much of his time attacking Israel; and, as an adult male, he has an obligation to defend the country in which he has chosen to live.

Gill writes: David, and whereby he was like to be drawn into a dilemma; either to fight against his country, which he could not do conscientiously; or be guilty of ingratitude to Achish, and incur his displeasure, and be liable to be turned out of his country, or treated in a worse manner, even he and his men, to be seized on and cut to pieces by the forces of the Philistines, should he refuse. Do you see the moral dilemmas which result when you move a little out of God’s will and direction for your life? David went to Philistia originally just to escape Saul’s constant hounding; now he finds himself in the compromised position of being expected to go to war against his own country.

Translation: ...—you and your soldiers.” It is not just David that Achish expect to join him; he expects for David to bring his army with him. At this point, Achish is possibly testing the waters. He expects David to function in a support role; however, it is not clear yet exactly what that role will be. To some, this may appear to be an uneasy alliance between these two. Achish trusts David, as we have been told; but he is not necessarily a fool. Some may think, Achish has come to David and exactly what part David will play in his assault will depend upon David’s reaction. One might assert that Achish is not 100% certain as to how David will react. Achish has presented David with what would normally be expected under the conditions of becoming a part of Philistia.

On the other hand, given David’s response, and what Achish says after that (in the next verse), Achish seems very willing to place a great deal of faith in David. It is more likely that Achish is not feeling David out here, but simply including him in what would be seen as one’s normal duties to one’s country. Recall the last thing that Achish said at the end of 1Sam. 27: “He has made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore, he will become my servant forever.” The same verse tells us that Achish trusts David. So, I don’t think that Achish’s approach is tentative in the least. I think he expects a positive reaction from David and is willing to place great trust in David.

When it comes to authorship, notice that we know David’s motivations in 1Sam. 27:11; we receive no similar peek into the mind of Achish (which results in some speculation on my part).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                         And David said to Achis, “Now you will know what your servant will do.” And Achis said to David, “And I will appoint you to guard my life forever.”

Masoretic Text                       And so says David unto Achish, “For so you [even] you know [that] which does your servant.” And so says Achish unto David, “For so a keeper to my head I make you all the days.”

Septuagint                             And David said the Anchus, “Thus now you will know what your servant will do.” And Anchus said to David, “So I will make you captain of my body guard continually.”

Significant differences:          In the MT, the you is emphatic; in the LXX and the Vulgate, we have now instead. The Hebrew word for you cannot be mistaken for any Hebrew word translated now. It is not completely clear whether there are any actual differences in the second line of this verse. The LXX appears to be an interpretation of the MT.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       David answered, "That will give you a chance to see for yourself just how well we can fight!" "In that case," Achish said, "you and your men will always be my bodyguards.” [a portion of vv. 1–3, which were mixed together].

NAB                                       David answered Achish, “Good! Now you shall learn what your servant can do.” Then Achish said to David, “I shall appoint you my permanent bodyguard.”

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        David answered Achish, “You sure know what your servant will do.” “In that case,” Achish replied to David, “I will appoint you my bodyguard for life.”

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

ESV                                       David said to Achish, "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

HCSB                                    David replied to Achish, "Good, you will find out what your servant can do." So Achish said to David, "Very well, I will appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.”

Young's Updated LT              And David says unto Achish, “Therefore—you do know that which your servant does.” And Achish says unto David, “Therefore—keeper of my head I appoint you all the days.”

What is the gist of this verse? David appears to agree to join forces with Achish against the Jews. Achish makes David his permanent bodyguard.

Translation: David answered Achish, “Certainly you [even] you will know that which your servant will [can?] do.” David’s answer appears to be vague and somewhat ambiguous; I assume that this allows the listener to take it in whatever way he chooses to take it. “You certainly know what your servant does.” Now, I base my assessment on this sentence alone. It is my opinion that David really does not know exactly what he will do; he is being plunged further and further into a morally ambiguous situation.

Despite David’s ambiguous response, most theologians to whom I refer roughly agree upon David’s thinking behind his response. Their interpretations differ, at most, by just a shade. Barnes suggests that David is thinking God will somehow bail him out of this mess—that God will keep him from having to fight against his own people. Matthew Henry supposes that David is essentially keeping his options open, giving Achish an ambiguous response while he himself tries to figure out his own next move. This way he makes no direct promise to Achish, and keeps his next move dependent upon what Achish says. Keil and Delitzsch tell us that David has made no distinct promise and that the words your servant are simply a periphrasis for the word I. Keil and Delitzsch further tell us that David is no doubt engaged in a frantic personal prayer with God to help him determine what he should do next. Gill writes: It seems best of all to consider David as quite undetermined, and at a loss what to do, hoping that God in his providence would extricate him out of this difficulty, and direct him what he should do. I doubt that David is awaiting direction from God; David does not consider God’s will until 1Sam. 30.

Clarke and I are most closely aligned; he remarks: This was an equivocal answer; and could only be understood by his succeeding conduct. It might imply what he could do in favor of the Philistines against Israel; or in favor of Israel against the Philistines. Achish understood it in the former sense. I think that David is certainly buying time with his answer, but the purpose is so that he can figure out what to do next; not so that God can guide him into doing what is proper and right.

Achish does not take this response as vague or noncommital, regardless of the way that David meant it. Achish takes this as an unqualified affirmative response. Achish now has great trust in David, which will be made clear by what he says next.

Translation: ...Then Achish said to David, “Certainly I will make you my bodyguard [lit., a guard with reference to my head] perpetually.” Achish was apparently satisfied with David’s response, even though it sounds noncommital to me; and assigns David probably the most important job he could assign him: he made David his personal bodyguard. This indicates that Achish had great trust in David. Achish will be one of the leaders in this war against Israel (it is not clear if he is the head of this attack or not). We also know that the Philistines have before been routed when their leader is killed (as with Goliath). So Achish has a tremendous amount of trust in David. He is trusting David with his very life. It is unlikely that he suspects David of anything, given the position which he awards him.

You have got to think that this gets David to thinking. He is out of God’s geographical will. He is often out of fellowship. His anointment to become king of Israel was a long, long time ago. This man Achish is putting a great deal of trust in him. He treats David in he way that Saul should have treated him. He trusts David in the way that Saul should have trusted him. Perhaps David is thinking to himself, “Maybe this is where I should be.” David’s ambiguous response may not have been an attempt on his part to do anything but to think this situation through while talking to Achish. One can only imagine the confusion that must be in David’s soul. Saul could have trusted him completely, yet did not; here is a traditional enemy of the Jew, and he trusts David implicitly—with his very own life.

If I was going to teach this chronologically, I would move immediately to 1Sam. 29 and teach that first; and then come back and complete this chapter. The remainder of this chapter chronologically follows 1Sam. 29.

The Stage is Set—the Philistine Army Gathers to War Against Israel

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And Samuel died and so lament for him all Israel. And so they bury him in Ramah and [or, even] in his city. And Saul removed the mediums and the necromancers from the land.

Peshitta                                 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned over him and buried him in Ramtha, in his own sepulchre. And Saul had put away the diviners and the wizards out of the land.

Septuagint                             And Samuel died, and all Israel lamented for him, and they bury him in his city, in Armathaim. And Saul had removed those who had in them diving spirits, and the wizards, out of the land

Significant differences:          The Vulgate and Septuagint omit even. The Aramaic has Samuel being buried in his own sepulcher instead of his own city. Although it is possible the one might be confounded with the other in the Hebrew, it is highly unlikely. Those rendering he Peshitta probably were dealing with a faulty or damaged Hebrew manuscript.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Samuel had died some time earlier, and people from all over Israel had attended his funeral in his hometown of Ramah. Meanwhile, Saul had been trying to get rid of everyone who spoke with the spirits of the dead. [The CEV combined vv. 1–3; primarily to list this verse first].

The Message                         Samuel was now dead. All Israel had mourned his death and buried him in Ramah, his hometown. Saul had long since cleaned out all those who held seances with the dead.

NAB                                       Now Samuel had died and, after being mourned by all Israel, was buried in his city, Ramah. Meanwhile Saul had driven mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land.

NLT                                        Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned all mediums and psychics from the land of Israel.

REB                                       By this time Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own town; and Saul had banished from the land all who trafficked with ghosts and spirits.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his hometown Ramah. (Saul had rid the land of mediums and psychics.)

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

ESV                                       Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.

MKJV                                     And Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the mediums and the spirit-knowers out of the land.

Young's Updated LT              And Samuel has died, and all Israel mourn for him, and bury him in Ramah, even in his city, and Saul has turned aside those having familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

What is the gist of this verse? We are reminded that Samuel had died and was buried. We are also told that Saul removed all of the necromancers and psychics from the land. This sets us up for what is to come.

Translation: Samuel had died... This is an interesting statement. We know from 1Sam. 25:1 that Samuel had died and was buried in his hometown of Ramah. First of all, even though the wording in these two passages are very similar, they are not so close as to think that one was copied from the other. In other words, we could have two different authors here and we could have the same author. The fact that this information is almost precisely what we find in 1Sam. 25:1 is indicative of two possibilities: (1) we have a different author who is picking up this narrative from Samuel’s death; or (2) Samuel’s death is directly related to what will follow—what Saul has done and what he will do is a result or a natural consequence of Samuel’s death. If we do not find a reasonable connection between Samuel’s death and what follows, then it becomes more likely that the original source is a different author than the original source of the previous chapter (and possibly different from the previous two verses). For those who have read ahead, Samuel’s death and the lack of spiritists in the land is directly related to what is to follow.

In 1Sam. 25:1, Samuel’s death is stated in the imperfect tense, meaning that it probably occurred very close to the time period of the writing of 1Sam. 25. The author is not looking back on something which happened 50 years ago (which would call for a perfect tense); but it is almost as though that passage is written immediately following Samuel’s death, even before the 30 day mourning period is completed. Interestingly enough, the verb for mourning (or grieving) will be in the imperfect tense in both passages. This also implies an ongoing process among the people of Israel. This does not have to occur during the 30 day mourning period. Samuel was a very public figure and he was, in his day, the spiritual atlas for Israel. That is, through his life and his teaching, he provided Israel with an example of righteousness and grace as well as the teaching of righteousness and grace. The people of Israel learned from him and grew spiritually because of him. His life made the spiritual difference for thousands of people.

Translation: ...and all Israel mourned for him. There appears to be a 30 day mourning period for any public figure in Israel. This does not mean that at day 31, everyone stops mourning. What happens at this point is, there is a spiritual gap, insofar as most people of Israel are aware. Their spiritual atlas is Samuel and he has gone to be with Jesus Christ; therefore, the people of Israel will continue to grieve his passing simply because there appears to be no replacement for him.

I want to you recognize what has happened in Israel. Saul has killed off all of the priests save one; therefore, we would not expect to see any Tabernacle worship during this time period or any properly offered sacrifices. Although Samuel had established a prophet’s college, we do not seem to find any spiritual atlas who has come out of that college (apart from David, who appears to have observed there for a day or so). No one is aware of anyone writing Scripture, even though their position on divinely inspired writing is difficult to determine (it is safe to assume that almost all Israel saw the books of Moses and Genesis as being of a divine nature—perhaps not as well-defined as our seminaries define Scriptural inspiration today); yet it is unclear whether the other extant writings were viewed in the same way (Joshua, Judges and Ruth; as well as Job). Furthermore, God’s Word was not as ubiquitous then as it is now. The king and the Tent of God probably both had copies of the first five books of Scripture. For this reason, those who have a spiritual stake in Israel will be concerned at the death of Samuel. They are not aware of anyone who can replace him. For his generation—in fact, for several generations—Samuel was the only spiritual leader they had known. Realize that to Israel, a spiritual leader was more important to them than the Word of God. This may be one of the defining characteristic differences between the Age of Israel and the Church Age (as the canon of Scripture had not been completed in the Age of Israel; however, half of it had been).

Translation: ...They buried him in Ramah... Again, this is in the imperfect tense, and my first thought was that this indicates that Samuel was probably very recently buried, with respect to the time frame of the writing of this passage. The perfect tense looks upon an action from the standpoint of being completed; the imperfect tense sees the action as a process. We would tie Samuel’s burial to his death and to the mourning of Israel. Because they are mourning still, his death and burial also seem current. On the other hand, since the loss of Samuel was felt for decades to follow, and because the burial of Samuel is part of the grieving process; this could indicate grief in the soul of the writer of this passage. In either case, the time between Samuel’s death and the recording of this portion of Scripture is probably brief—my guess is less than 30 years (the final form of this passage may have been completed later, however).

Translation: ...—even his [own] city. Samuel had a group of cities which he traveled to, as a circuit judge; however, he was born in Ramah and eventually made his home in Ramah (recall that he was raised by Eli in the Tabernacle of God). Because he chose Ramah as his home city, he was buried there as well.

Translation: ...Also, Saul had removed the mediums and the necromancers from the land [of Israel]. This is quite interesting, as this portion of v. 3 appears to be tied to what has already been found. Samuel has died, and Saul, as it will appear to be clear, is sort of lost. He has no one to guide him in anyway. This will also become more clear as this chapter unfolds. However, one thing that Saul has done is he has removed all of those who were demon-possessed or demon-influenced from the land. We are not given a time frame for this, and it is possible and reasonable that Saul chose to do this when Samuel died—perhaps as a tribute, perhaps in the mistaken notion that he had become Israel’s spiritual leader. Another possible motivation is that Saul was bribing God to some degree. In any case, Saul did remove anyone who claimed to have a connection with the spirit world from Israel; and it is going to be clear that this is a decision that he will regret to some degree, as he will desire some guidance for himself.

We have two categories of spiritists in this verse. The first is the ôbôwth (תבֹא) [pronounced ohb-^VOHTH], known as the ventriloquist-demon. In case you have any doubts about this, read through the Hebrew exegesis above, where you will be given documentation. Strong's #178 BDB #15. This appears to be a person who allows a demon to speak through them; to use their vocal cords to speak. I would not be too surprised if there are a number of those in the tongues movement who allow this—and very likely, this is true of some of their leaders. We are not persuaded in Scripture to fall into any sort of a trance state nor to allow our voices to be used by anyone other than ourselves.

The second category of spiritist is called yîdd^e׳ônîy (י̣נֹע ׃̣י) [pronounced yid-d^e-ģoh-NEE]. Whereas the owb demon has some control over the vocal chords of the spiritist, this person seems to have an even more intimate relationship with a demon—his mind and/or his body is controlled or partially controlled by a demon. Saul removed all spiritists from Israel, which are summed up by these two categories. In making that statement, I should say that all does not really mean all. There were probably a handful of real spiritists and fakers who remained in Israel. The removal of these types is mandated in Ex. 22:18 Lev. 19:31 20:6, 27 Deu. 18:10–11 (actually, their execution is what is mandated).

With regards to psychics and necromancers, it appears that in those days, as well as today, there are those who were fakers; those who knew how to manipulate others. These pick up subtle clues from their marks and manage to give them what they want to hear. There also appear to be those who have some actual contact with the demon world—something which was allowed to come to a head during the time of our Lord. I think that it is reasonable today that most of these are fakers; however, there are possibly some who do have some limited contact with the demon world. I hesitate to offer any sort of mechanics here as to the manner of communication between a spiritist and a demon. There are possibly those who allow their vocal cords to be used by demons, or their entire bodies to be used by demons. I don’t pretend to even have a clue as to the percentages involved here or to even to make the unqualified statement that there must be these kinds of possessed people out there. People commit crimes in a state of mental illness that certainly sounds like demon possession or demon influence (e.g., the woman who killed her five children here in Houston). However, one must be careful not to take what we observe and superimpose it upon Bible doctrine.

Application: Does this mean that we need to run all of the fortune tellers and palm readers out of town? No, as we have no such mandate for this dispensation. This was what was expected of Israel when Israel was a theocracy. However, those days are gone now; Israel is not a theocracy and neither are we. We cannot get God’s plan for Israel mixed up with God’s plan for the United States (or whatever country you reside in). There are parallels, to be sure; but not everything is a direct carryover.

I have, on several occasions, made mention of the Jewish way of thinking—that they would write with reference to topics rather than with reference to chronology. That is, a topical approach would trump a chronological approach. This is what we find here. Samuel’s death was mentioned sometime ago; however, it is pertinent to this chapter—to the events which take place. That Saul removed the spiritists from Israel—this probably took place over several years early in his reign—we can only speculate as to the time that this took place—but that he did remove the spiritists is topically related to this chapter. That the Philistines were ready to war against Israel and that Israel is in a dire situation—that is topically relevant. So, the beginning of this chapter sets us up for all that is going to come to pass in 1Sam. 28. This appears to be a separate literary unit. That is, the writer of this portion of Scripture inserts important pieces of information, some of which we are already aware from what we have read, and some things that we are not aware of. However, this information is presented to us as if we do not have a complete background to the events which are going to take place. That being said, bear in mind, as these events unfold, who would be the person who actually observed these events. Samuel is dead, so he did not record these events. David is miles away, so he did not record these events. The remaining priest is with David at this time, so he did not record these events. Saul and Jonathan and Saul’s other sons will all die, so they could not have recorded these events (besides which, Saul’s sons did not witness any of these events). So, what we have in this chapter is a fascinating bit of history, but recorded probably as a separate literary unit by someone who probably did not record much else by way of Scripture. The most logical person to record this information is one of Saul’s trusted aides who goes with him. In any case, bear this in mind as we continue examining this particular series of events.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so are gathered Philistines and so they come in and so they encamp in Shunem. And so collects Saul all Israel and so they encamp in the Gilboa.

Peshitta                                 And the Philistines gathered themselves together and came and encamped in Shechem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilgal.

Septuagint                             And the Philistines assemble themselves and they come and encamp in Sonam; and Saul gathers all the men of Israel and they encamp in Gelbue.

Significant differences:          Very minor differences. The LXX adds in ...the men of..., which could be for clarification. The Peshitta has the Philistines gathering in Shechem, rather than Shunem.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The Philistines went to Shunem and set up camp. Saul called the army of Israel together, and they set up their camp in Gilboa.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         The Philistines assembled and camped in Shunem. Saul also assembled the whole Israelite army, and they camped at Gilboa.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

HCSB                                    The Philistines came together and camped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel, and they camped at Gilboa.

Young's Updated LT              And the Philistines are gathered, and come in, and encamp in Shunem, and Saul gathers all Israel, and they encamp in Gilboa,...

What is the gist of this verse? The Philistines gathered all of their troops in Shunem and the Israelites gathered their troops in Gilboa.

Translation: The Philistines are gathered;... We probably have a gathering of Philistines from all Philistine cities and territories; therefore, Achish is there with his equals from the other four Philistine cities. Each leader gathered a huge army to devastate Israel.

Translation: ...they enter [Israel] and they bivouac in Shunem. When it says that this Philistine army goes in; they are going into Israel; they are crossing over the border from Philistia and they set up camp in Shunem. This appears to be the typical way that the Philistines functioned. They would move into a city in Israel or a city near Israel and bivouac. They may have gone up along the sea coast and come in the valley of Jezreel from the west, or there is a road they may have used, which begins at Aphek (see 1Sam. 29:1). When the Philistines moved their armies to a point to the deep interior of Israel, this indicated to all of Israel that they were ready to attack.

Shunem is the generally accepted reading; however, the Aramaic has Shechem. Shunem is a city in Issachar (Joshua 19:18), whose name is also found on a list of cities conquered by Thutmose III (1490–1436 b.c.) as well as in the Amarna letters. This is the first mention of Shunem since its listing in the book of Joshua. We will find it named two more times in Scripture. David has a nurse, Abishag, a Shunammite (which is the feminine form of Shunem). Adonijah makes an unsuccessful attempt to marry her, in order to give more validity to his claim to the throne (1Kings 2:13–22). Elisha also will stay in Shunem (2Kings 4:8). In roughly the same spot is the modern village of Sulem, which is along a mountain range known as Little Hermon.

What I have found interesting about the Philistine attacks is, they usually move northward into northern Israel, rather than westward across Judah (which is closer to the primary Philistine cities). It is possible that the Philistines found those in the north easier prey than those in Judah. It is very likely that they already dominated certain cities in northern central Israel as well.

Edersheim writes: The reason why the scene of battle was laid so far north, distant alike from the cities of the Philistine princes and from the residence of Saul, was, in all probability, that the Philistines now wished to obtain such undoubted supremacy in the north of Palestine as they seem to have virtually possessed in the south. A great victory in Jezreel would not only cut the land, so to speak, in two, but give them the key both to the south and to the north. With this view, then, the Philistines chose their gourd. Where the great plain of Esdraelon shelves down to the Jordan it is broken in the east by two mountain-ranges. On the southern side of the valley, which is here about three miles wide, are the mountains of Gilboa, and at their foot, or rather spur, lies Jezreel, where the spring which gushes down is gathered into a pool of considerable size. On the northern side of the valley is Little Hermon, and at its foot the rich village of Shunem (the “twin rest”). Behind and to the north of Little Hermon runs another narrow branch of the plain. On its other side is the mountain where Endor lay amidst most desolate scenery; and in one of its many limestone caves was the scene of Saul’s last interview with Samuel.

Translation: Saul also gathers all Israel... As king, Saul’s primary duty is to protect Israel. That means, when it comes to aggressive actions on the part of other nations, it was up to Saul to gather an army and respond to these actions. Therefore, Saul had no choice but to gather his army (here, called all Israel) and set up camp opposite the Philistines.

You may wonder what it means when Saul gathers all Israel. This does not mean that he gathers up every man, woman and child and moves next to the Philistines. However, what is implied is, Saul gathers up as many men as he possibly can. This apparently is not just his standing army; and it is not his standing army plus some of their friends. Saul gathered as many men as he could possibly gather. Given this action and what is to follow indicates that he is more fearful in this battle than in any of those which preceded.

Translation: ...and they bivouac in Gilboa. Saul needs to move his army into place as well. So he takes them to Gilboa. Interestingly enough, Gilboa is only mentioned with respect to this battle and its aftermath, and nowhere else. (1Sam. 28:4 31:1, 8 2Sam. 1:6, 21 21:12 1Chron. 10:1, 8). One of my maps places Mount Gilboa in northern Manasseh, which borders Issachar. Mount Gilboa and Shunem would be approximately 5 or so miles apart (Keil and Delitzsch have the two villages as being 2 hours apart ), which is in keeping with the positioning of the troops. They are clearly visible to one another (1Sam. 28:5). The deep valley of Jezreel lies between them. ZPEB tells us that this mountain range is 8 miles long and from 3 to 5 miles wide, south-southwest of the Sea of Galilee. Its highest point is listed as 1696 ft. above sea level, although there is a relatively steep 2000 ft. drop on its eastern side, toward the Jordan River. On the western side, we have a more gradual drop to the Plain of Esdraelon, which is 300 ft. above sea level. It is on this western side where Saul and his sons will lose their lives (which we will cover in greater detail in 1Sam. 31). The modern name for Mount Gilboa today is Jebel Fukuak; however, its name is preserved in the village of Jelbon.

If you read these last few chapters in 1Samuel carefully, you might become confused—Saul is said to gather the troops by a spring in Jezreel (1Sam. 29:1b) and he is also said to be at the foot of Mount Gilboa (1Sam. 31:1a). Achish and the Philistines are said to gather in Aphek (1Sam. 29:1a) but they are also said to gather in Shunem (1Sam. 28:4). These accounts, if you read them carefully, sound as though they might be histories recorded by different people simply because, even though we are dealing with the same series of incidents, each chapter seems to be a separate, almost isolated, incident. Jezreel is at the foot of Mount Gilboa, so Saul calls for his troops to gather there. The Philistines initially begin to gather their troops in Aphek, in order to see what they were working with. Once they were organized, then they marched into Israel and encamped in Shunem. When we get to 1Sam. 31, I will put all of the incidents of the final few chapters of 1Samuel into chronological order (which they are not as they stand).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so sees Saul camp of Philistines and so he is afraid and so trembles his heart greatly.

Peshitta                                 And when Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

Septuagint                             And Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, and he was alarmed, and his heart was greatly dismayed.

Significant differences:          None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Saul took one look at the Philistine army and started shaking with fear.

NLT                                        When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         When Saul looked at the Philistine army, he was very afraid-terrified.

JPS (Tanakh)                        When Saul saw the Philistine force, his heart trembled with fear.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

ESV                                       When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

Young's Updated LT              And Saul sees the camp of the Philistines, and fears, and his heart trembles greatly.

What is the gist of this verse? Saul became extremely afraid when he saw the camp of the Philistines.

Translation: Saul saw the camp of the Philistines... Saul looks out from the mountains of Gilboa across the valley of Jezreel below, to the village of Shunem. He can see the Philistines gather more and more troops. With every few hours, there seem to be more and more Philistine battalions enter into this area and find a spot for themselves and camp.

As you get older, you lose some of your fearlessness. Saul, as a young man, was a fearless warrior and he was a great general. However, as he got older and crazier, he no longer had enough inner strength to deal with this kind of pressure. First, instead of gathering his general fighting force, Saul gathers up all of the men he possibly can. Still, when he looks at the Philistines, he is still taken aback. Apparently, Achish has gathered a significant group of Philistines.

Translation: ...and he was afraid... Saul looks out at these Philistines from afar and he is struck with great fear. It is strong and Saul has no control over it. Some men use this fear to push their adrenalin. However, Saul instead is rendered almost incapable of functioning.

There is an odd thing that occurs in one’s life. Children and even teenagers are fearless. They do not feel as though anything can harm them. However, as a person gets older, his fears tend to increase. Saul is no exception. He began is a very good military leader, exhibiting little or no fear; but in this impending war, Saul will exhibit strong pre-battle jitters.

Translation: ...and his heart greatly trembled. Today, we might use the phrase, his heart was pounding. The idea is, Saul is unable to think logically through all of this. He had no dying grace; and he knew he was dying. At the end of this chapter, Saul will be struck immobile by his fear.

Matthew Henry comments at this point: Had Saul kept close to God, he needed not have been afraid at the sight of an army of Philistines; but now that he had provoked God to forsake him his interest failed, his armies dwindled and looked mean, and, which was worse, his spirits failed him, his heart sunk within him, a guilty conscience made him tremble at the shaking of a leaf. Now he remembered the guilty blood of the Amalekites which he had spared, and the innocent blood of the priests which he had spilt. His sins were set in order before his eyes, which put him into confusion, embarrassed all his counsels, robbed him of all his courage, and produced in him a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Note, Troubles are terrors to the children of disobedience. Although we really do not know what was in Saul’s mind at this point, apart from being afraid for his own life, what Henry suggests here is reasonable. Saul may be doing an inventory of his own shortcomings and personal rebellion against God; and he may be simply paralyzed with fear for his own life.

God Will Not Answer Saul, so Saul Seeks out a Medium

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                         And he consulted the Lord, and he answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets.

Masoretic Text                       And so asks Saul in Yehowah and had not answered him Yehowah, either in dreams or in the lights [or, Urim] or in the prophets.

Peshitta                                 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, He did not answer him, either by dreams or by fire or by prophets.

Septuagint                             And Saul inquired of the Lord; and the Lord answered him not by dreams, nor by manifestations, nor by prophets.

Significant differences:          None, except that those who translated Urim were uncertain as to its meaning. The translation from the Latin Vulgate reads priests, which is really not a bad translation, given that David will consult Abiathar the priest about God’s will in 1Sam. 30:7. You may say that Saul killed all of the priests of Nob, which he certainly did (apart from Abiathar, who is with David). However, this does not mean that Saul has not hired a personal priest to travel with his troops (we find that sort of thing occurring in the final few chapters of the Judges). You may object to this, and say, Saul is against God; he is certainly not going to hire a Levite to act as his personal priest. Saul is irrational. Do not think that everything he does is going to make sense. Saul’s greatest ally is David and Saul has spent years trying to kill David.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       So he asked the LORD what to do. But the LORD would not answer, either in a dream or by a priest or a prophet.

NLT                                        He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots [Hebrew, by Urim] or by the prophets.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         He prayed to the LORD, but the LORD didn't answer him through dreams, the Urim, or prophets.

JPS (Tanakh)                        And Saul inquired of the Lord, but eh Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                When Saul inquired of he Lord, He refused to answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim [a symbol worn by the priest, when seeking the will of God for Israel], or by the prophets. [Prov. 1:24–30.]

Updated Emphasized Bible   Then Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him—not by dreams, nor by the lights [or, Urim], nor by prophets.

HCSB                                    He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him in dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets.

Young's Updated LT              And Saul asks at Jehovah, and Jehovah has not answered him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.

What is the gist of this verse? Saul did inquire of God what was going to happen and what it was he should do, but God would not answer Saul—not in dreams, not by the Urim, and not by the prophets.

Translation: So Saul inquired of [lit., in, before, in the presence of] Y^ehowah but Y^ehowah did not answer him,... Samuel was no longer there, and had not been with Saul for some time, so Saul apparently gathered some people around him who supposedly spoke for God. That is, he had places to go, or people he could call upon, for this information. Whether he gathered these people to himself or whether he inquired of his troops to see if they knew someone is unknown. As we examine the various types of revelation below, we will go into greater detail.

Translation: ...either by dreams,... When it came to specific responses from God concerning this situation or that, there were several ways which God used to speak to someone. General doctrinal principles could be gotten from Scripture, which was limited in those days, both in size and availability; so God allowed man to communicate with Him in other ways. One method by which God spoke to man was through his dreams, something which we find a great deal of in the book of Genesis, where revelation was limited to some historical records (which make up the book of Genesis). We find revelatory dreams to be rather rare elsewhere in Scripture (although God did use dreams on occasion).

Recall that Saul is out of fellowship, all day long; so that he goes to bed out of fellowship with God. Therefore, there is no reason to think that Saul would hear anything from God by dreams.

Translation: ...by Urim... If you will recall, there was a method by which the priest could determine certain pieces of information from God—he had this vest with stones that represented each tribe of Israel and Urim and Thummim, whose exact nature is disputed (see the Doctrine of Urim and Thummim—PDF version, found in Deut. 33:8). I don’t know what Saul did here. I suspect that Saul had a personal priest or a set of personal priests (which is very likely, as this seemed to be common in the book of the Judges). I don’t know if he seized the priest’s vesture or not when he executed the priests in Nob; or if he had a copy made (recall that the one priest who escaped Saul—Abiathar—probably had the Ephod—see the discussion in 1Sam. 23:9). In any case, Saul probably had the real thing or an imitation—this is why Urim is mentioned. In either case, God chose not to answer him by this.

Now, it is possible that God has not answered Saul by Urim because this is in the control of Abiathar, who is with David. So Saul does not have access in this way to God. Furthermore, when Saul will complain to Samuel that God is not listening to him, he says that God will not speak to him by dreams or by prophets only; he does not mention priests nor does he mention Urim and Thummim (1Sam. 28:15). This might simply indicate that Saul has no personal access via the Ephod; however, I believe Saul is simply making two groups of God’s access to him—either directly or through a man of God. Prophets would include all men of God, including priests. Although no priest is ever directly alluded to with respect to Saul, apart from this verse, I believe that Saul had a priest who traveled with him, along the lines of those priests from the tribe of Levi that we saw in the book of Judges (for a time, this would have been Ahijah, who apparently did have the Ephod of God—1Sam. 14:3, 18). Whether Ahijah was still with him or not is never told to us; however, the Ephod of God was clearly kept in Nob for awhile, and then taken by the hand of Abiathar to David (1Sam. 21:9 22:20 23:6–9). This suggests to me that this phrase—So Saul inquired of Jehovah, but Jehovah did not answer him—not by dreams, by Urim or by the prophets—is not simply a reference to Saul and his lack of communication with God over the past few days, but really extends back several years if not a decade or two.

Saul probably had a personal priest; however, there is no reason to believe that this priest had the ability to hear God. A priest who could speak with God would not work directly for Saul. What we have here, at best, is an illegitimate priest hired by Saul. God certainly would not speak to Saul through this priest.

Translation: ...or by the prophets. Finally, Saul probably traveled with prophets or was able to get prophets from Samuel’s old school of prophets. There were possibly those who advertised themselves as such and Saul grabbed them up. However, God would not speak to Saul through these prophets. We already know that God can choose to limit His revelation, even through prophets whose spirituality is in question (recall Balaam in Num. 22–24). So, whomever Saul had at his disposal was not revealing any information either because God gave him no information to reveal.

We have talked about this passage in comparison to what we find in 1Chron. 10:13–14. Since God has not answered Saul at all, we may reasonably suppose that Saul is out of fellowship. The reason that God does not answer Saul is, God does not hear Saul. Now you may think, God hears everything that is said; and, in one way, you are correct. However, when it comes to His own, His children, God only listens when we are in fellowship. Therefore, God will only answer Saul when Saul prays to God while in fellowship. The fact that Saul receives no answer from God whatsoever indicates that Saul is out of fellowship and has no intention of getting back into fellowship.

How can I explain this? God hears everything we say and yet does not hear some things. Have you ever called out to your child to come into the house when he is playing and he ignored you? He may have heard your voice; he possibly even heard the words that you said; but, he behaves as though you have said nothing whatsoever.

Application: There are several things to note here: first of all, your prayers and calls for help may go no higher than the ceiling if you are out of fellowship. There is abundant Scripture to document this truth. The second thing to note is, there is a point at which it is too late. Saul has gotten to a point where, it is too late for him. He is playing out the last few moves of a chess game, and he will have few, if any choices. He can lose this way or he can lose that way; but those are his only choices. Finally, why should God speak to someone who does not want to hear Him? Why should God speak to anyone who will not listen to Him? Do you know why so many people pray to God, but apart from that, they have little or no spiritual activity in their lives? That is, they don’t go to church, they don’t give regularly, they don’t study he Bible—but they do pray. They pray because they want God to hear what they have to say, but they aren’t really all that interested in anything that God might have to say to them. “These are my problems, God; these are my difficulties. Now you fix them, okay?” It doesn’t matter if 90% of their problems they caused themselves; they want God to fix them, and then for God to leave them alone until the next set of problems comes along.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so says Saul to his servants, “Seek for me a woman of a mistress of a [ventriloquist] demon and I would go to her and I would inquire in her. And so say his servants unto him, “Behold, a woman of a mistress of a [ventriloquist] demon in Endor.”

Peshitta                                 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.”

Septuagint                             Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has in her a divining spirit, and I will go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, a woman who has in her a diving spirit at Ændor.”

Significant differences:          The relationship between the woman and the spirit (or demon) appear to be different; however, I believe that is simply the interpretation given by the translator of both the LXX and the Peshitta. Therefore, there are no significant differences between the Greek and Hebrew here.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Then Saul told his officers, "Find me a woman who can talk to the spirits of the dead. I'll go to her and find out what's going to happen." His servants told him, "There's a woman at Endor who can talk to spirits of the dead.”

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         Saul told his officers, "Find me a woman who conjures up the dead. Then I'll go to her and ask for her services." His officers told him, "There is a woman at Endor who conjures up the dead.”

JPS (Tanakh)                        Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who consults ghosts, so that I can go to her and inquire through her.” And his courtiers told him that there was a woman in En-dor who consulted ghosts.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], that I may go and inquire of her. His servants said, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor.

HCSB                                    Saul then said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her." His servants replied, "There is a woman at Endor who is a medium.

MKJV                                     And Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium, at Endor.

Young's Updated LT              And Saul says to his servants, “Seek for me a woman possessing a familiar spirit, and I go unto her, and inquire of her;” and his servants say unto him, “Lo, a woman possessing a familiar spirit in En-dor.”

What is the gist of this verse? Since Saul was unable to contact God, he decided to contact the dead. He asks his servants if they knew of a medium, and they knew of one who resided in Endor.

Translation: So Saul said to his servants,... Saul depended upon his men a great deal. In fact, it is amazing that he inspired them to follow him, given his mental state and his neediness. However, we have already seen that Saul could very cleverly put a spin on this situation or that. He was able to either twist the actions that he has done (as he did when he offered animal sacrifices instead of Samuel) or he could twist what others did (he made a convincing argument that David had turned Saul’s own son against him). This would indicate that he could lead, even though he was in a questionable mental state. Furthermore, sometimes such a state can work in favor of a man in a leadership role—his servants assume that he will kill them if he gets mad at them. Not that this is the proper way to wield authority; but it is apparently working for Saul.

One of the popular topics today is putting a spin on this or that event; or giving an interpretation to an event in such a way to give it meaning that it may or may not have. We have newscasters who say they present the news from the no-spin zone. Saul was a man who put a spin on the things which happened. David was seen to be a seditionist who led his own son Jonathan astray, even though these facts are untrue. Saul was able to put a spin on the things which Jonathan and David did in order to make this interpretation of the events reasonable.

Now, earlier, I suggested that Saul had a personal priest, something which was not unknown to those times. His dependence upon his men here supports that viewpoint. That is, Saul does not have to go outside his circle of followers in order to get what he feels he needs to get. Saul has surrounded himself by yes-men. Therefore, their views are going to be clouded and limited. Later on, we will get a list of David’s mighty men, and the first few times I read that I simply assume that this immortalized those men who served under him. However, what strikes me now as I read this list (2Sam. 23:8–39) is that these are men of very different origins and backgrounds. David chose very diverse men to be under him that gave him a broader view of this world. Now, there were times that those under David took matters into their own hands and acted outside of David’s will—on the other hand, there are at least two instances when prophets walked up to David, the King of Israel, poked him in the chest, and said, “King David, you are wrong; you are out of fellowship; you have acted against God.” Can you imagine someone doing that to King Saul? Except for Samuel, for whom Saul had build up a great deal of respect over the man years (and Samuel also installed Saul as king), people could not walk up to Saul and challenge him. Even when his own son Jonathan withstood him over the matter of David’s allegiance, Saul would have none of it. In fact, Saul did not just publicly berate his own son, he almost killed him (1Sam. 20:25–34).

Application: If you have a possession with some authority, and there are people who are under you, cultivate your relationship with those with whom you tend to disagree; or, hire people who have a background which is not the same as the others who are under you. If you are unable to deal with disagreements or differing opinions, then you should not have a position of authority. This, of course, does not mean that every idea verbalized by those of a different viewpoint is right; nor does it mean that every view espoused by your yes men is wrong. However, if you have a position of authority, you should utilize the resources that you have—those under you are not simply extensions of your volition, but they have thoughts and ideas and opinions which may benefit you and the organization for which you all work. You have to get over yourself and you have to have enough humility to honestly listen to others; you need to have enough humility to give some thought to their opinions.

Translation: ...“Seek out for me a woman [who] possesses [or, a mistress of] a [demonic] spirit... Saul asks his men about a specific type of woman—a woman who is the mistress of or a possessor of a ventriloquist demon. This means, a demon can speak through the woman.

Saul has no way to tell what is going to happen and he is very apprehensive about the recent events which have taken place. Many people today respond as he does—they seek spiritists, those who read Tarot cards, those who read palms or tea leaves. There are some who seek a modern-day prophet, although, at the time that I write this, there are very few of those.

One of the most humorous aspects of the modern-day tongues movement is, in a Holy Ghost-filled church (I am being facetious here), almost everyone there speaks tongues, but few if any of them are prophets. Despite the fact that they go to 1Cor. 14 and lift out a few verses to support their confused theology, they ignore that Paul urges them to desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues. Instead, all new initiates into their program is encouraged to lean their head back and to start warbling (in order to get the gift of tongues). Nobody corners them and encourages them to start prophesying. Do they really want a new convert, someone they can sort of lead and boss around, start using the gift of prophesy and turn things around—that is, become their boss, their chief? Hell no! They don’t want their new converts to become their leaders! They don’t want their new initiates to start calling the shots from day one. Furthermore, there is the additional problem that, the gift of prophecy is just too damned easy to verify. Someone could stand up and say, “Hey, guys, I’m a prophet.” But when his prophecies did not come to pass, that would pretty much eliminate him from the line of prophets (and, of course, someone might go to the Old Testament and find the passage where such a man should be killed—a charismatic is going to be quite mixed up on dispensations—that automatically is a part of being a charismatic). As you can see, charismatics cannot go along with all of 1Cor. 14—they cannot encourage members of the flock to prophesy, because that opens up a whole set of problems that they are ill equipped to deal with. However, getting their initiates the babble, well, that is much easier to do. First off, their little superiority trip of leading the convert into tongues remains in tact. No matter gibberish the convert spouts out, everyone is going to be excited and praise him for speaking in tongues, since, no matter what it is, automatically they will simply classify it as the tongues of angels—Holy Ghost language. There is no verification that can be done at this point. No one can say, “The guy is just babbling” because babbling from a sincere and earnest believers mouth has to be how angels talk. You see? There can be no room for arguing here. No matter how lame the babbling sounds, no one can dispute it. Prophesy, on the other hand, is just too easy to dispute. “Charley Brown said such-and-such was going to happen, but it die not. Charley Brown must be a false prophet. It says here in the Law of Moses that we have to put these false prophets to death.” A charismatic church is looking to build up its congregation; they can’t be killing them off.

I have digressed. It is interesting that Saul has requested a woman who possesses a spirit. We do not have any particular reason why this is, and we could speculate. There is no reason to think that possessions are confined to women; there is no Biblical basis for that. Maybe Saul wanted to feel like he could handle whatever happened; and going to a woman was easier for him to handle? Maybe going to a woman was more comforting to Saul—sort of like going to a mother figure. Again, all of this is speculation, as we do not get to look inside the mind of Saul for his motivation in this respect. A possible explanation is, those who possessed a spirit were typically women during that time.