The story of Saul visiting
the woman with the familiar spirit in 1 Sam 28 is a tragic one, but I recently
had some insight into it that revealed to me a deeper message of hope that we
can get from it. I hope you will
stick with me as we go through this story.
3 ¶Now
Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even
in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the
wizards, out of the land.
4 And the
Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and
Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.
5 And
when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly
trembled. (1 Sam. 28:3-5)
The text wants us to
have clear in our minds that the prophet Samuel has been dead and that Saul had
already put away mediums and wizards out of the land. I think we are also to remember that the Lord had
commanded the people not to ever use
those methods.
So the Philistines
gather together against Israel and Saul gathers Israel’s armies and he is
absolutely terrified. He has no
idea what to do. Somehow he
has no problem chasing after innocent people and slaughtering innocent priests
and conducting manhunts, but real enemies make him shake in his boots. (This shows us that the result of
following wickedness and injustice is that a person loses the ability to face
the real threats and carry out real responsibilities bravely.)
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim,
nor by prophets. (v6)
This is not a
new condition; Saul got the divine silence back in 1 Sam. 14:37 and it doesn’t
seem like he inquires since.
So what does
Saul do? He decides he will try to
force revelation by getting someone
who has familiar spirits to call up Samuel the prophet. Everyone should know that trying to
force revelation is always a bad thing because it opens an individual up to
evil influences who are only too glad to have an excuse to communicate and
cause misery.
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar
spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him,
Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar
spirit at En-dor. (v7)
Saul has
already put away mediums and wizards as part of enforcing the Law of Moses, but
now he hopes to consult them. Very
ironic. (I hope we never get
ourselves into a similar situation of wishing that we hadn’t kept the
commandments in the past because it hinders us from sinning in the
present.) This is setting yet
another very bad precedent and example for his servants. It sends the message that there is one kind
of official public morality and an opposite private morality when one is in a
pinch.
Interesting
that when he asks his servants to get him in touch with a medium, they already
know exactly who to call and where to go.
How do they know? Have they
hidden this woman from him all these years? Have they consulted her themselves? Have they simply winked at her
existence? They register no
protest against his request, which makes me wonder if they had lost their way
spiritually as well.
8 And
Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with
him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto
me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
9 And the
woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut
off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land:
wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
10 And
Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no
punishment happen to thee for this thing. (1 Sam. 28:8-10)
The woman also knows
the rules against mediums and wizards and she fears entrapment. It is another irony that this medium
cites law to the person who enforced the law and who now wants to break the
law. She sounds really pious doing
that, but as soon as she is promised that she won’t be punished for it, she
does her thing. I suppose this is
how she has kept herself safe all this time, by citing the law, accusing of
entrapment, and then extracting a promise of no punishment.
It is further ironic
that Saul promises her safety with the oath “as the Lord liveth.” I believe that is a classic instance of
taking the Lord’s name in vain.
12 And
when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to
Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13 And
the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said
unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
14 And he
said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh 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 himself. (1 Samuel 28:11-14)
She’s asked to bring
up Samuel the prophet, and presumably a spirit comes and it startles her. Immediately when it comes, she blows
Saul’s cover and reveals who he is.
I think this is meant to show that there is some spirit there that knows
who Saul is and has told her. This
builds credibility with Saul, even as it scares the medium, who realizes she is
now working for the very person who enforced those laws against
spiritualism.
It seems clear to me
that this woman could commune with
spirits, but they were evil spirits who hoped to deceive and destroy. The institute manual has a very good
point that it is contrary to the order of heaven for unrighteous people to have
power to command righteous spirits to do their bidding, otherwise there would
not be rest for the righteous after death, and they would be in a worse
position than in life, in a sort of slavery to the wicked.
One of the things
that confuses people about what this fake Samuel spirit says is that it sounds
so close to the truth that it seems like it is
truth. But it’s not, in a number
of very subtle ways. The truth is
twisted in so subtle a way that Saul in his tormented, fearful, guilt-ridden
state would not have been able to discern it, and so for him it hits with all
the force of truth.
The things the fake
Samuel says are said in such a way as to discourage Saul from making any
positive changes and to destroy hope, even with some very subtle flattery.
Let’s take these
things apart, shall we?
15 ¶And
Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul
answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and
God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by
dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what
I shall do.
16 Then
said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed
from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17 And
the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the
kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
18 Because
thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon
Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day.
19 Moreover
the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines:
and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver
the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:15-19)
“Wherefore then
dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed
from thee” (v16) – It isn’t the Lord who departed from Saul. Saul
departed from the Lord. By saying
the Lord departed from Saul, the evil spirit discourages Saul from repenting by
making it seem like nothing he can do can change the Lord’s stance.
“And the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given
it to thy neighbour, even to David” (v17) – The
subtlety of this lie is missed because we often think of what comes after,
since David eventually does gain the kingdom. But at that time of
Saul’s inquiry, the evil spirit interpreted the current status quo as a full fulfillment
of Samuel’s prophecy. We think it
is just another reiteration of the prophecy, but the evil spirit said it was
already fulfilled. But at that time, David didn’t have the
kingdom. It took seven more years
after Saul’s death for David to finally be given the whole kingdom. So the evil spirit lied.
This statement
flattered Saul into thinking that David would gain no more than he had already
got, but it also discouraged Saul by making it seem like the state of Israel
was degenerating instead of improving.
David was still a wanderer in a foreign land, holding a single town
Ziklag by Philistine sufferance.
And was that to be the state of Israel’s kingdom under David? How tragic if it were so!
“Because thou
obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst
his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord
done this thing unto thee this day.” (v18) – At the time that Saul committed
those sins nothing tormented him with the sense of what a mistake he had made,
lest he should feel remorse and repent immediately. Only now many years later his regret is inflamed about these
sins in the distant past in a manner that will torment him rather than lead to
repentance. Also, there is
no mention of the horrendous sins Saul committed afterwards—like killing the
priests or seeking David’s life or consulting the medium or any other abuses of
power he may have done that were not recorded—lest he begin to repent of
those. Evil spirits do not want us
to be free from sin, and they will do what they can to distract us from
repentance.
“Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of
the Philistines: …the Lord also shall deliver the
host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” (v19) – The fake Samuel says
Israel will be delivered into the hands of the Philistines, but this
contradicts the earlier statement that the kingdom has been given to
David. There is an attempt to
cover this contradiction up and hide it with a statement that the Lord will
also deliver the host (the army) of Israel into the hand of the
Philistines. Just the army that
time.
Does this
really happen? Many people think
that it did. However, a close
reading of what happens in the battle following this chapter is that the
Philistines fought Israel and Israel fled. Many were slain, but Israel fled (see 1 Sam. 31:1), so the army was
not captured as predicted. They
forsook the cities and the Philistines came and dwelt in them (see 1 Sam.
31:7), but that doesn’t mean Israel was fully beaten. Also, David goes to Hebron in 1 Sam 2:1-3 and is king over
Judah, so the area of Judah wasn’t in subjection to the Philistines. Also, Abner makes Saul’s son
Ish-bosheth king over Israel and they retain Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel,
Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel (1 Sam. 2:8-9), so Saul’s family retains
control over a significant portion of people and land, so things really didn’t happen as this evil spirit
said.
“and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be
with me” (v19) – We focus on the time frame of tomorrow, and the swiftness of
Saul’s demise makes us think it was fulfilled, but there is no actual hint that
it happened so soon. I think
instead we should focus on the other part, where Saul and his sons would
be.
Saul thinks it
is Samuel speaking, so he gets the idea that he and his sons will be with
Samuel when they die. Saul would
reason this way--Samuel was righteous, so if Samuel says we will be with him,
then that makes it seem like I haven't been too bad after all. BUT… then that contradicts the previous
message that the Lord is angry at Saul’s disobedience and is punishing
him. This evil spirit is giving a
contradictory message and if Saul grasped any of these principles, then he
would be even more confused and in doubt. (Also, don’t forget that not all of Saul’s sons
die. Ish-bosheth remains alive.)
In absolute
terms, this was an evil spirit pronouncing judgment on a mortal, a task
undoubtedly beyond his authority and capability. Can anyone have confidence that when an evil spirit gives
judgment the judgment will be just?
No.
So to sum up,
what is this fake Samuel, this evil spirit doing? He’s deliberately misdiagnosing Saul’s position with the
Lord, neglecting his worst sins while dwelling on the mistakes of the distant
past, misinterpreting prophecy, and confusing him with contradictory statements
about the fate of Israel and the fate of Saul’s soul.
Saul’s whole
intent was to find out what to do, but the effect of everything told him
by the evil spirit is to destroy all hope that anything can be done about
it. Saul is told he is powerless
to stop any of it.
But was he really hopeless and powerless?
If we believe
that Saul was powerless to change anything about his admittedly terrible state,
then we too fall for the persuasions of this evil spirit.
In order to
resist, we must believe the opposite—that
there was something Saul could have
done, that his situation, terrible as it seemed, was still not hopeless and there still remained to him the possibility
of redemption through Christ.
WE MUST BELIEVE THAT.
And if there
was hope for Saul, then there is still hope for everyone else.
That, I sense,
is the ultimate uplifting message of this terrible chapter. This is why we need this chapter in the
scriptures. Knowing how God works,
we can discern the devil even when he comes as an angel of light or masquerades
as one with authority. We can
detect him and reject his message that there is no hope, and we can lay hold on
redemption with our faith in Christ and hope that all is not lost.
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