Text -- 1 Samuel 28:20 (NET)

28:20 Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, not having eaten anything all that day and night.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 1Sa 28:20

As if the Archers of the Philistines had already hit him, and there was no strength in him, to bear up against these heavy tidings: especially, as we cannot doubt, but all his past sins were now brought to his remembrance and what authority has any man to affirm, that he felt no contrition all this time? Altho' it did not seem good to the holy ghost, to leave it upon record?

Clarke: 1Sa 28:20

Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth - Literally, he fell with his own length, or with the fullness of his stature. He was so overwhelmed with this most dreadful message, that he swooned away, and thus fell at his own length upon the ground. The woman, being terrified, had probably withdrawn to some distance at the first appearance of the prophet; and Saul was left alone with Samuel. After some short time, the woman came again unto Saul, found him sore troubled, and offered him those succours which humanity dictated.

TSK: 1Sa 28:20

fell straightway : Heb. made haste and fell with the fullness of his stature

sore afraid : 1Sa 28:5, 1Sa 25:37; Job 15:20-24, Job 26:2; Psa 50:21, Psa 50:22

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Poole: 1Sa 28:20

Saul fell along on the earth being quite dispirited with these sad and surprising tidings, and so unable to stand.

Haydock: 1Sa 28:20

Day, through excessive anguish. (Haydock) ---

He fainted away; upon which his attendants and the woman rushed in. (Salien)

Gill: 1Sa 28:20

Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth,.... Fell at his full length at once, as if he had been thunderstruck, or pierced through with a dart or sword:

and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel; as he supposed they were, whose words never failed:

and there was no strength in him: to rise up again, he was quite dispirited and strengthless:

for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night; which contributed the more to his weakness; not only his fears, but not eating any food, occasioned his weakness, and that through want of an appetite, by reason of the great concern of his mind in his present troubles.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 28:20

¹ tn Heb “also there was no strength in him.”

² tn Heb “food.”

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 28:20

Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore ^{( i )} afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

^{( i )} The wicked when they hear God's judgments, tremble and despair, but cannot seek for mercy by repentance.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Sa 28:1-25

1 Achish puts confidence in David.

3 Saul having destroyed the witches,

4 and now in his fear forsaken of God,

7 has recourse to a witch;

8 who, encouraged by Saul, raises up Samuel.

15 Saul hearing his ruin, faints.

21 The woman and his servants refresh him with meat.

MHCC: 1Sa 28:20-25

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, or to have attempted any escape; but in sullen despair he rushed upon his doom. God sets up a few such beacons, to warn men not to stifle convictions, or despise his word. But while one repenting thought remains, let no sinner suppose himself in this case. Let him humble himself before God, determined to live and die beseeching his favour, and he will succeed.

Matthew Henry: 1Sa 28:20-25

We are here told how Saul received this terrible message from the ghost he consulted. He desired to be told what he should do (1Sa 28:15), but was only told what he had not done and what should be done to him. 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 here was. Observe,

I. How he sunk under the load, 1Sa 28:20. He was indeed unfit to bear it, having eaten nothing all the day before, nor that night. He came fasting from the camp, and continued fasting; not for want of food, but for want of an appetite. The fear he was in of the power of the Philistines (1Sa 28:5) took away his appetite, or perhaps the struggle he had with his own conscience, after he had entertained the thought of consulting the witch, made him to nauseate even his necessary food, though ever so dainty. This made him an easy prey to this fresh terror that now came upon him like an armed man. He fell all along on the earth, as if the archers of the Philistines had already hit him, and there was no strength in him to bear up against these heavy tidings. Now he had enough of consulting witches, and found them miserable comforters. When God in his word speaks terror to sinners he opens to them, at the same time, a door of hope if they repent: but those that apply to the gates of hell for succour must there expect darkness without any glimpse of light.

II. With what difficulty he was persuaded to take so much relief as was necessary to carry him back to his post in the camp. The witch, it should seem, had left Saul alone with the spectre, to have his talk with him by himself; but perhaps hearing him fall and groan, and perceiving him to be in great agony, she came to him (1Sa 28:21), and was very importunate with him to take some refreshment, that he might be able to get clear from her house, fearing that if he should be ill, especially if he should die there, she should be punished for it as a traitor, though she had escaped punishment as a witch. This, it is probable, rather than any sentiment of kindness, made her solicitous to help him. But what a deplorable condition had he brought himself to when he needed so wretched a comforter! 1. She showed herself very importunate with him to take some refreshment. She pleaded (1Sa 28:21) that she had obeyed his voice to the endangering of her life, and why therefore should not he hearken to her voice for the relieving of his life? 1Sa 28:22. She had a fat calf at hand (and the word signifies one that was made use of in treading out the corn, and therefore could the worse be spared); this she prepared for his entertainment, 1Sa 28:24. Josephus is large in applauding the extraordinary courtesy and liberality of this woman, and recommending what she did as an example of compassion to the distressed, and readiness to communicate for their relief, though we have no prospect of being recompensed. 2. He showed himself very averse to it: He refused, and said, I will not eat (1Sa 28:23), choosing rather to die obscurely by famine than honourably by the sword. Had he laboured only under a defect of animal spirits, food might have helped him; but, alas! his case was out of the reach of such succours. What are dainty meats to a wounded conscience? As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs to a heavy heart, so disagreeable and unwelcome. 3. The woman at length, with the help of his servants, overpersuaded him, against his inclination and resolution, to take some refreshment. Not by force, but by friendly advice, they compelled him (1Sa 28:23), and of no other than such a rational and courteous compulsion are we to understand that in the parable, Compel them to come in, Luk 14:23. How forcible are right words, when men are pressed by them to that which is for their own interest! Job 6:25. Saul was somewhat revived with this entertainment; so that he and his servants, when they had eaten, rose up and went away before it was light (1Sa 28:25), that they might hasten to their business and that they might not be seen to come out of such a scandalous house. Josephus here much admires the bravery and magnanimity of Saul, that, though he was assured he should lose both his life and honour, yet he would not desert his army, but resolutely returned to the camp, and stood ready for an engagement. I wonder more at the hardness of his heart, that he did not again apply to God by repentance and prayer, in hopes yet to obtain at least a reprieve; but he desperately ran headlong upon his own ruin. Perhaps, indeed, now that rage and envy possessed him to the uttermost, he was the better reconciled to his hard fate, being told that his sons, and Jonathan among the rest, whom he hated for his affection to David, should die with him. If he must fall, he cared not what desolations of his family and kingdom accompanied his fall, hoping it would be the worse for his successor. Emou thanontos gaia michthetō puri - I care not if, when I am dead, the world should be set on fire. He begged not, as David, "Let thy hand be against me, but not against thy people."

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Sa 28:3-25

Saul with the witch at Endor . - The invasion of Israel by the Philistines,which brought David into so difficult a situation, drove king Saul todespair, so that in utter helplessness he had recourse to ungodly means ofinquiring into the future, which he himself had formerly prohibited, and tohis horror had to hear the sentence of his own death. This account isintroduced with the remark in 1Sa 28:3 that Samuel was dead and had beenburied at Ramah (cf. 1Sa 25:1; וּבעירו , with an explanatory vav , and indeed in his own city), and that Saul had expelled " those that hadfamiliar spirits and the wizards out of the land "(on the terms employed, oboth and yiddonim , see at Lev 19:31). He had done this in accordancewith the law in Lev 19:31; Lev 20:27, and Deu 18:10.

1Sa 28:4-5

When the Philistines advanced and encamped at Shunem , Saulbrought all Israel together and encamped at Gilboa , i.e., upon the mountainof that name on the north-eastern edge of the plain of Jezreel, whichslopes off from a height of about 1250 feet into the valley of the Jordan,and is not far from Beisan. On the north of the western extremity of thismountain was Shunem , the present Sulem or Solam (see at Jos 19:18); itwas hardly two hours distant, so that the camp of the Philistines might beseen from Gilboa. When Saul saw this, he was thrown into such alarm thathis heart greatly trembled. As Saul had been more than once victorious inhis conflicts with the Philistines, his great fear at the sight of the Philistianarmy can hardly be attributed to any other cause than the feeling that Godhad forsaken him, by which he was suddenly overwhelmed.

1Sa 28:6

In his anxiety he inquired of the Lord; but the Lord neitheranswered him by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, that is to say,not by any of the three media by which He was accustomed to makeknown His will to Israel. בּיהוה שׁאל is the termusually employed to signify inquiring the will and counsel of God throughthe Urim and Thummim of the high priest (see at Jdg 1:1); and this is thecase here, with the simple difference that here the other means of inquiringthe counsel of God are also included. On dreams, see at Num 12:6. According to Num 27:21, Urim denotes divine revelation through the highpriest by means of the ephod . But the high priest Abiathar had been withthe ephod in David's camp ever since the murder of the priests at Nob (1Sa 22:20., 1Sa 23:6; 1Sa 30:7). How then could Saul inquire of God through theUrim? This question, which was very copiously discussed by the earliercommentators, and handled in different ways, may be decided very simplyon the supposition, that after the death of Ahimelech and the flight of hisson, another high priest had been appointed at the tabernacle, and anotherephod made for him, with the choshen or breastplate, and the Urim andThummim. It is no proof to the contrary that there is nothing said aboutthis. We have no continuous history of the worship at the tabernacle, but onlyoccasional notices. And from these it is perfectly clear that the publicworship at the tabernacle was not suspended on the murder of the priests,but was continued still. For in the first years of David's reign we find thetabernacle at Gibeon, and Zadok the son of Ahitub, of the line of Eleazar,officiating there as high priest (1Ch 16:39, compared with 1Ch 6:8and 1Ch 6:53); from which it follows with certainty, that after the destructionof Nob by Saul the tabernacle was removed to Gibeon, and the worship ofthe congregation continued there. From this we may also explain in a verysimple manner the repeated allusions to two high priests in David's time (2Sa 18:17; 2Sa 15:24, 2Sa 15:29, 2Sa 15:35; 1Ch 15:11; 1Ch 18:16). The reason why the Lorddid not answer Saul is to be sought for in the wickedness of Saul, whichrendered him utterly unworthy to find favour with God.

1Sa 28:7-14

Instead of recognising this, however, and searching his ownheart, Saul attempted to obtain a revelation of the future in ungodly ways. He commanded his servants (1Sa 28:7) to seek for a woman that had a familiarspirit. Baalath-ob : the mistress (or possessor) of a conjuring spirit, i.e., ofa spirit with which the dead were conjured up, for the purpose of makinginquiry concerning the future (see at Lev 19:31). There was a woman ofthis kind at Endor , which still exists as a village under the old name uponthe northern shoulder of the Duhy or Little Hermon (see at Jos 17:11),and therefore only two German (ten English) miles from the Israelitishcamp at Gilboa.

1Sa 28:8

Saul went to this person by night and in disguise, that he mightnot be recognised, accompanied by two men; and said to her, "Divine tome through necromancy, and bring me up whomsoever I tell thee." Thewords "bring me up,"etc., are an explanation or more precise definition of"divine unto me,"etc. Prophesying by the Ob was probably performed bycalling up a departed spirit from Sheol, and obtaining prophecies, i.e.,disclosures concerning one's own fate, through the medium of such a spirit. On the form קסומי ( Chethibh ), see at Jdg 9:8.

1Sa 28:9

Such a demand placed the woman in difficulty. As Saul had driventhe necromantists out of the land, she was afraid that the unknown visitor(for it is evident from 1Sa 28:12 that she did not recognise Saul at first) mightbe laying a snare for her soul with his request, to put her to death, i.e.,might have come to her merely for the purpose of spying her out as aconjurer of the dead, and then inflicting capital punishment upon heraccording to the law (Lev 20:27).

1Sa 28:10-11

But when Saul swore to her that no punishment should fallupon her on that account ( יקּרך אם , " shall assuredly notfall upon thee "), an oath which showed how utterly hardened Saul was,she asked him, " Whom shall I bring up to thee? "and Saul replied, "Bringme up Samuel," sc., from the region of the dead, or Sheol , which wasthought to be under the ground. This idea arose from the fact that the deadwere buried in the earth, and was connected with the thought of heaven asbeing above the earth. Just as heaven, regarded as the abode of God and theholy angels and blessed spirits, is above the earth; so, on the other hand,the region of death and the dead is beneath the ground. And with ourmodes of thought, which are so bound up with time and space, it isimpossible to represent to ourselves in any other way the difference andcontrast between blessedness with God and the shade-life in death.

1Sa 28:12

The woman then commenced her conjuring arts. This must besupplied from the context, as 1Sa 28:12 merely states what immediatelyensued. "When the woman saw Samuel, she cried aloud," sc., at the formwhich appeared to her so unexpectedly. These words imply mostunquestionably that the woman saw an apparition which she did notanticipate, and therefore that she was not really able to conjure updeparted spirits or persons who had died, but that she either merelypretended to do so, or if her witchcraft was not mere trickery anddelusion, but had a certain demoniacal background, that the appearance ofSamuel differed essentially from everything she had experienced andeffected before, and therefore filled her with alarm and horror. The veryfact, whoever, that she recognised Saul as soon as Samuel appeared,precludes us from declaring her art to have been nothing more than juggleryand deception; for she said to him, " Why hast thou cheated me, as thou artcertainly Saul? "i.e., why hast thou deceived me as to thy person? whydidst thou not tell me that thou wast king Saul? Her recognition of Saulwhen Samuel appeared may be easily explained, if we assume that thewoman had fallen into a state of clairvoyance , in which she recognisedpersons who, like Saul in his disguise, were unknown to her by face.

1Sa 28:13

The king quieted her fear, and then asked her what she had seen;whereupon she gave him a fuller description of the apparition: "I saw acelestial being come up from the earth." Elohim does not signify gods here,nor yet God; still less an angel or a ghost, or even a person of superiorrank, but a celestial (super-terrestrial), heavenly, or spiritual being.

1Sa 28:14

Upon Saul's further inquiry as to his form, she replied, "An oldman is ascending, and he is wrapped in a mantle." Meïl is the prophet'smantle, such as Samuel was accustomed to wear when he was alive (see 1Sa 15:27). Saul recognised from this that the person who had been calledup was Samuel, and he fell upon his face to the ground, to give expressionto his reverence. Saul does not appear to have seen the apparition itself. But it does not follow from this that there was no such apparition at all,and the whole was an invention on the part of the witch. It needs anopened eye, such as all do not possess, to see a departed spirit or celestialbeing. The eyes of the body are not enough for this.

1Sa 28:15-17

Then Samuel said, " Why hast thou disturbed me (sc., frommy rest in Hades; cf. Isa 14:9), to bring me up? "It follows, no doubt, fromthis that Samuel had been disturbed from his rest by Saul; but whether thishad been effected by the conjuring arts of the witch, or by a miracle ofGod himself, is left undecided. Saul replied, " I am sore oppressed, for thePhilistines fight against me, and God has departed from me, and answersme no more, either by prophets or by dreams; then I had thee called (onthe intensified form ואקראה , vid., Ewald , §228, c .), to makeknown to me what I am to do ."The omission of any reference to the Urimis probably to be interpreted very simply from the brevity of the account,and not from the fact that Saul shrank from speaking about the oracle ofthe high priest, on account of the massacre of the priests which had takenplace by his command. There is a contradiction, however, in Saul's reply: for if God had forsakenhim, he could not expect any answer from Him; and if God did not replyto his inquiry through the regularly appointed media of His revelation,how could he hope to obtain any divine revelation through the help of awitch? "When living prophets gave no answer, he thought that a dead onemight be called up, as if a dead one were less dependent upon God thanthe living, or that, even in opposition to the will of God, he might replythrough the arts of a conjuring woman. Truly, if he perceived that Godwas hostile to him, he ought to have been all the more afraid, lest Hisenmity should be increased by his breach of His laws. But fear andsuperstition never reason"(Clericus). Samuel points out this contradiction(1Sa 28:16): " Why dost thou ask me, since Jehovah hath departed from thee,and is become thine enemy? "The meaning is: How canst thou expect ananswer under these circumstances from me, the prophet of Jehovah? ערך , from ער , signifies an enemy here (from עיר , fervour ); and this meaning is confirmed by Psa 139:20 and Dan 4:16(Chald.). There is all the less ground for any critical objection to thereading, as the Chaldee and Vulgate give a periphrastic rendering of"enemy,"whilst the lxx, Syr., and Arab. have merely paraphrasedaccording to conjectures. Samuel then announced his fate (1Sa 28:17-19): " Jehovah hath performed forhimself, as He spake by me ( לו , for himself, which the lxx and Vulg. have arbitrarily altered into לך , σοί , tibi (to thee), iscorrectly explained by Seb. Schmidt, 'according to His grace, or to fulfiland prove His truth'); and Jehovah hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand,and given it to thy neighbour David ."The perfects express the purpose ofGod, which had already been formed, and was now about to be fulfilled.

1Sa 28:18-19

The reason for Saul's rejection is then given, as in 1Sa 15:23 : " Because ( כּאשׁר , according as) thou ... hast not executed thefierceness of His anger upon Amalek, therefore hath Jehovah done thisthing to thee this day .""This thing"is the distress of which Saul hadcomplained, with its consequences. ויתּן , that Jehovah maygive (= for He will give) Israel also with thee into the hand of thePhilistines. "To- morrow wilt thou and thy sons be with me (i.e. in Sheol,with the dead); also the camp of Israel will Jehovah give into the hand ofthe Philistines ,"i.e., give up to them to plunder. The overthrow of thepeople was to heighten Saul's misery, when he saw the people plungedwith him into ruin through his sin ( O. v. Gerlach ). Thus was the last hopetaken from Saul. His day of grace was gone, and judgment was now toburst upon him without delay.

1Sa 28:20

These words so alarmed him, that he fell his whole length uponthe ground; for he had been kneeling hitherto (1Sa 28:14). He "fell straightway ( lit . he hastened and fell) upon the ground. For he was greatly terrified atthe words of Samuel: there was also no strength in him, because he hadeaten no food the whole day and the whole night ,"sc., from mentalperturbation or inward excitement. Terror and bodily exhaustion causedhim to fall powerless to the ground.

1Sa 28:21-22

The woman then came to him and persuaded him tostrengthen himself with food for the journey which he had to take. It byno means follows from the expression "came unto Saul," that the womanwas in an adjoining room during the presence of the apparition, and whilstSamuel was speaking, but only that she was standing at some distance off,and came up to him to speak to him when he had fallen fainting to theground. As she had fulfilled his wish at the risk of her own life, sheentreated him now to gratify her wish, and let her set a morsel of breadbefore him and eat. " That strength may be in thee when thou goest thyway "(i.e., when thou returnest).

This narrative, when read without prejudice, makes at once and throughoutthe impression conveyed by the Septuagint at 1Ch 10:13 : ἐπηρώτησε Σαοὺλ ἐν τῷ ἐγγαστριμύθῳ τοῦ ζητῆσαι, καὶ ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῷ Σαμουὴλ ὁ προφήτης; and still more clearly at Ecclus. 46:20,where it is said of Samuel: "And after his death he prophesied, and showedthe king his end, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, to blotout the wickedness of the people."Nevertheless the fathers, reformers,and earlier Christian theologians, with very few exceptions, assumed thatthere was not a real appearance of Samuel, but only an imaginary one. According to the explanation given by Ephraem Syrus, an apparent imageof Samuel was presented to the eye of Saul through demoniacal arts. Luther and Calvin adopted the same view, and the earlier Protestanttheologians followed them in regarding the apparition as nothing but adiabolical spectre, a phantasm, or diabolical spectre in the form of Samuel,and Samuel's announcement as nothing but a diabolical revelation made bydivine permission, in which truth is mixed with falsehood.

(Note: Thus Luther says (in his work upon the abuses of the Mass,1522): "The raising of Samuel by a soothsayer or witch, in 1Sa 28:11-12, was certainly merely a spectre of the devil; not onlybecause the Scriptures state that it was effected by a woman who wasfull of devils (for who could believe that the souls of believers, whoare in the hand of God, Ecclus. 3:1, and in the bosom of Abraham,Luk 16:31, were under the power of the devil, and of simple men?),but also because it was evidently in opposition to the command ofGod that Saul and the woman inquired of the dead. The Holy Ghostcannot do anything against this himself, nor can He help those whoact in opposition to it."Calvin also regards the apparition as only aspectre (Hom. 100 in 1 Samuel.): "It is certain,"he says, "that it was notreally Samuel, for God would never have allowed His prophets to besubjected to such diabolical conjuring. For here is a sorceress calling upthe dead from the grave. Does any one imagine that God wished Hisprophet to be exposed to such ignominy; as if the devil had powerover the bodies and souls of the saints which are in His keeping? Thesouls of the saints are said to rest and live in God, waiting for theirhappy resurrection. Besides, are we to believe that Samuel took hiscloak with him into the grave? For all these reasons, it appearsevident that the apparition was nothing more than a spectre, and thatthe senses of the woman herself were so deceived, that she thoughtshe saw Samuel, whereas it really was not he."The earlier orthodoxtheologians also disputed the reality of the appearance of thedeparted Samuel on just the same grounds; e.g., Seb. Schmidt( Comm .); Aug. Pfeiffer; Sal. Deyling; and Buddeus, Hist. Eccl. V. t. ii. p. 243, and many more.)

It was not till the seventeenth century that the opinion was expressed,that the apparition of Samuel was merely a delusion produced by thewitch, without any real background at all. After Reginald Scotus and Balth. Becker had given expression to this opinion, it was more fully elaboratedby Ant. van Dale, in his dissert . de divinationibus idololatricis sub V. T.; and in the so-called age of enlightenment this was the prevailing opinion,so that Thenius still regards it as an established fact, not only that thewoman was an impostor, but that the historian himself regarded the wholething as an imposture. There is no necessity to refute this opinion at thepresent day. Even Fr. Boettcher ( de inferis , pp. 111ff.), who looks uponthe thing as an imposture, admits that the first recorder of the occurrence"believed that Samuel appeared and prophesied, contrary to theexpectation of the witch;"and that the author of the books of Samuel wasconvinced that the prophet was raised up and prophesied, so that after hisdeath he was proved to be the true prophet of Jehovah, although throughthe intervention of ungodly arts (cf. Eze 14:7, Eze 14:9). But the view held bythe early church does not do justice to the scriptural narrative; and hencethe more modern orthodox commentators are unanimous in the opinionthat the departed prophet did really appear and announce the destructionof Saul, not, however, in consequence of the magical arts of the witch, butthrough a miracle wrought by the omnipotence of God.

This is most decidedly favoured by the fact, that the prophetic historian speaks throughout of the appearance, not of a ghost, but of Samuel himself. He does this not only in 1Sa 28:12, "When the woman saw Samuel she cried aloud,"but also in 1Sa 28:14, 1Sa 28:15, 1Sa 28:16, and 1Sa 28:20. It is also sustained by the circumstance, that not only do the words of Samuel to Saul, in 1Sa 28:16-19, create the impression that it is Samuel himself who is speaking; but his announcement contains so distinct a prophecy of the death of Saul and his sons, that it is impossible to imagine that it can have proceeded from the mouth of an impostor, or have been an inspiration of Satan. On the other hand, the remark of Calvin, to the effect that "God sometimes give to devils the power of revealing secrets to us, which they have learned from the Lord,"could only be regarded as a valid objection, provided that the narrative gave us some intimation that the apparition and the speaking were nothing but a diabolical delusion. But it does nothing of the kind. It is true, the opinion that the witch conjured up the prophet Samuel was very properly disputed by the early theologians, and rejected by Theodoret as "unholy, and even impious;"and the text of Scripture indicates clearly enough that the very opposite was the case, by the remark that the witch herself was terrified at the appearance of Samuel (1Sa 28:12). Shöbel is therefore quite correct in saying: "It was not at the call of the idolatrous king, nor at the command of the witch, - neither of whom had the power to bring him up, or even to make him hear their voice in his rest in the grave, - that Samuel came; nor was it merely by divine 'permission,' which is much too little to say. No, rather it was by the special command of God that he left his grave (?), like a faithful servant whom his master arouses at midnight, to let in an inmate of the house who has wilfully stopped out late, and has been knocking at the door. 'Why do you disturb me out of my sleep?' would always be the question put to the unwelcome comer, although it was not by his noise, but really by his master's command, that he had been aroused. Samuel asked the same question."The prohibition of witchcraft and necromancy (Deu 18:11; Isa 8:19), which the earlier writers quote against this, does not preclude the possibility of God having, for His own special reasons, caused Samuel to appear. On the contrary, the appearance itself was of such a character, that it could not fail to show to the witch and the king, that God does not allow His prohibitions to be infringed with impunity. The very same thing occurred here, which God threatened to idolaters through the medium of Ezekiel (Eze 14:4, Eze 14:7,Eze 14:8): "If they come to the prophet, I will answer them in my own way."Still less is there any force in the appeal to Luk 16:27., where Abraham refuses the request of the rich man in Hades, that he would send Lazarus to his father's house to preach repentance to his brethren who were still living, saying, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."For this does not affirm that the appearance of a dead man is a thing impossible in itself, but only describes it as useless and ineffectual, so far as the conversion of the ungodly is concerned.

The reality of the appearance of Samuel from the kingdom of the deadcannot therefore be called in question, especially as it has an analogon inthe appearance of Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration of Christ (Mat 17:3; Luk 9:30-31); except that this difference must not be overlooked,namely, that Moses and Elijah appeared "in glory,"i.e., in a glorified form,whereas Samuel appeared in earthly corporeality with the prophet'smantle which he had worn on earth. Just as the transfiguration of Christwas a phenomenal anticipation of His future heavenly glory, into whichHe was to enter after His resurrection and ascension, so may we think ofthe appearance of Moses and Elijah "in glory"upon the mount oftransfiguration as an anticipation of their heavenly transfiguration ineternal life with God. It was different with Samuel, whom God brought upfrom Hades through an act of His omnipotence. This appearance is not to be regarded as the appearance of one who hadrisen in a glorified body; but though somewhat spirit-like in its externalmanifestation, so that it was only to the witch that it was visible, and notto Saul, it was merely an appearance of the soul of Samuel, that had beenat rest in Hades, in the clothing of the earthly corporeality and dress of theprophet, which were assumed for the purpose of rendering it visible. Inthis respect the appearance of Samuel rather resembled the appearances ofincorporeal angels in human form and dress, such as the three angels whocame to Abraham in the grove at Mamre (Gen 18), and the angel whoappeared to Manoah (Judg 13); with this exception, however, that theseangels manifested themselves in a human form, which was visible to theordinary bodily eye, whereas Samuel appeared in the spirit-like form ofthe inhabitants of Hades. In all these cases the bodily form and clothingwere only a dress assumed for the soul or spirit, and intended to facilitateperception, so that such appearances furnish no proof that the souls ofdeparted men possess an immaterial corporeality.

(Note: Delitzsch ( bibl Psychol. pp. 427ff.) has very properly rejected,not only the opinion that Samuel and Moses were raised up from thedead for the purpose of a transient appearance, and then died again,but also the idea that they appeared in their material bodies, a notionupon which Calvin rests his argument against the reality of theappearance of Samuel. But when he gives it as his opinion, that theangels who appeared in human form assumed this form by virtue oftheir own power, inasmuch as they can make themselves visible towhomsoever they please, and infers till further from this, "that theoutward form in which Samuel and Moses appeared (whichcorresponded to their form when on this side the grave) was theimmaterial production of their spiritual and psychical nature,"heoverlooks the fact, that not only Samuel, but the angels also, in thecases referred to, appeared in men's clothing, which cannot possiblybe regarded as a production of their spiritual and psychical nature. The earthly dress is not indispensable to a man's existence. Adam andEve had no clothing before the Fall, and there will be no materialclothing in the kingdom of glory; for the "fine linen, pure and white,"with which the bride adorns herself for the marriage supper of theLamb, is "the righteousness of saints"(Rev 19:8).

1Sa 28:23-24

On Saul's refusing to take food, his servants (i.e., his twoattendants) also pressed him, so that he yielded, rose up from the ground,and sat down upon the bed ( Mittah : i.e., a bench by the wall of the roomprovided with pillows); whereupon the woman quickly sacrificed (servedup) a stalled calf, baked unleavened cakes, and set the food she hadprepared before the king and his servants. The woman did all this fromnatural sympathy for the unhappy king, and not, as Thenius supposes, toremove all suspicion of deception from Saul's mind; for she had notdeceived the king at all.

1Sa 28:25

When Saul and his servants had eaten, they started upon theirway, and went back that night to Gilboa, which was about ten milesdistant, where the battle occurred the next day, and Saul and his sons fell. "Saul was too hardened in his sin to express any grief or pain, either on hisown account or because of the fate of his sons and his people. In stoliddesperation he went to meet his fate. This was the terrible end of a manwhom the Spirit of God had once taken possession of and turned intoanother man, and whom he had endowed with gifts to be the leader of thepeople of God"( O. v. Gerlach ).

Constable: 1Sa 16:1--31:13

IV. SAUL AND DAVID 1 Sam. 16--31

The basic theme in Samuel, that blessing, and in particular fertility of all kinds, follows from faithful commitment to God's revealed will, continues in this section. However another major motif now becomes more prominent. We might call it the theme of the Lord's anointed.

"The theological thread running through Samuel and Kings is God's choice of a leader to represent Him as He implements His covenants with Israel."¹⁶⁸

Saul had been God's anointed vice-regent, but with Saul's rejection David began to move into that position. These chapters record the gradual transition and slow transformation of the nation as the Israelites and others increasingly realized that David was now God's anointed. Saul remained the Lord's anointed as long as he lived. Part of the reason David succeeded was he recognized this and related to Saul accordingly. However, David too was God's anointed though God was still preparing him to take leadership and mount the throne. While the hero of this last half of 1 Samuel is David, Saul is also prominent. Saul declined as the old anointed as David arose as the new anointed.

"There will be many twists in the story of David's progress towards the throne, and not a few crisis-points, yet all is told in the knowledge that God can put his men where he wants them to be, whether the route is direct, or ever so circuitous."¹⁶⁹

Chronology of David's Life170
Event	Date	Age	Reference
Birth	1041	0	2 Sam. 5:4-5
Anointing by Samuel	1029	12	1 Sam. 16:1-13
Defeat of Goliath	1024	17	1 Sam. 17
Exile from Saul	1020-1011	21-30	1 Sam. 21-31
Anointing as King over Judah	1011	30	2 Sam. 2:1-4
Anointing as King over all Israel	1004	37	2 Sam. 5:1-3
Philistines Wars	1004	37	2 Sam. 5:17-25
Conquest of Jerusalem	1004	37	2 Sam. 5:6-10
Mephibosheth's Move to Jerusalem	996	45	2 Sam. 9:1-13
The Three Year Famine	996-993	45-48	2 Sam. 21:1-14
The Ammonite Wars	993-990	48-51	2 Sam. 10-12
Adultery and Murder	992	49	2 Sam. 11
Birth of Solomon	991	50	2 Sam. 12:24-25
Rape of Tamar	987	54	2 Sam. 13:1-22
Death of Amnon	985	56	2 Sam. 13:23-36
Exile of Absalom	985-982	56-59	2 Sam. 13:37-39
Absalom's Return to Jerusalem	982-980	59-61	2 Sam. 14:21-24
Construction of Palace	980-978	61-63	1 Chron. 15:1
Construction of Tabernacle	977	64	1 Chron. 15:1
Move of Ark to Jerusalem	977	64	2 Sam. 6:12-19
Absalom's Rebellion and David's Exile	976	65	2 Sam. 15-18
Rebellion of Sheba	976	65	2 Sam. 20:1-22
The Census	975	66	2 Sam. 24:1-17
Purchase of Temple Site	973	68	2 Sam. 24:18-25
The Davidic Covenant	973	68	2 Sam. 7
Co-regency with Solomon	973-971	68-70	1 Chron. 23:1
Rebellion of Adonijah	972	69	1 Kings 1:5-37
Coronation of Solomon	971	70	1 Chron. 29:22-23
Death	971	70	1 Kings 2:10-11

Constable: 1Sa 21:1--30:31

C. David in Exile chs. 21-30

In chapters 21-30 we see David's forces growing stronger and stronger while Saul's forces get weaker and weaker. This is a further demonstration of the fertility theme. However these chapters also develop the motif of the proper response to Yahweh's anointed.

Interesting, too, are the parallels between David's experiences as the Lord's anointed and Jesus Christ's as the Lord's anointed. Rejection preceded acceptance, and suffering preceded reigning in both cases. God blessed both of these servants personally, and they became a blessing to others because of their commitment to Yahweh and His Law.

"The true servant of God must willingly suffer affliction with the full assurance that God is performing His purposes. Positions of prominence and prestige are not to be sought and worked for. Rather, the leader who desires Christ's blessing must wait patiently on Him for advancement and promotion to opportunities of greater service."²²⁶

Several of the Psalms have their backgrounds in these chapters (Ps. 18; 34; 52; 54; 56; 57; 63; 124; 138; 142; and possibly others).

Constable: 1Sa 27:1--31:13

4. The end of Saul's reign chs 27-31

David's commitment to God resulted in his continuing to be God's instrument of blessing to the Israelites and His instrument of judgment to Israel's enemies. This was true in spite of David's failure to seek guidance from the Lord before moving back into Philistine territory. David's strength continued to grow as Saul's continued to wane. In these last chapters of 1 Samuel the writer moved back and forth first describing David's activities, and then Saul's, then David's, and then Saul's. This technique puts the fates of the two men in stark contrast side by side. Thus the book closes with the narrative contrast technique with which it opened in which the writer contrasted Samuel and Eli's sons.

Constable: 1Sa 28:3-25

Saul's attempt to secure divine guidance from a medium 28:3-25

The story involving Saul's meeting with the "witch" of En-dor is one of the best known in 1 Samuel. It contains some unique events that have troubled Bible students for many years. Again the spotlight of revelation turns back to Saul from David. We see here the spiritual insensibility of Saul due to his departure from God.

"This visit to the medium of Endor is cited by the Chronicler as proof positive that Saul deserved the judgment that fell on him at Gilboa (1 Ch. 10:13)."²⁷²

Constable: 1Sa 28:20-25

Saul's failure to listen 28:20-25

Why did the writer give us so much information about this woman's concern for Saul? For one thing, it is another instance of the reversal of fortune motif that is so common in 1 and 2 Samuel. Saul should have executing the woman for witchcraft as the Law commanded, but instead she ministered to Saul. A disobedient medium became a source of blessing for the disobedient king. Saul had departed so far from God that even this woman, through whom he had just learned about his own death the next day, could nourish and refresh him.

Beyond this the similarity between the woman's words and Samuel's is striking. Samuel had said that because Saul had not obeyed God, God had done something to Saul (v. 18). The woman said that because she had obeyed Saul, Saul should do something for her (vv. 21-22).

"Saul realizes he has landed in a situation which resembles a covenant with the medium instead of with YHWH."²⁷⁸

Samuel's words terrified Saul, but they did not move him to listen and obey. Saul had not eaten and was physically weak. Perhaps he had been fasting to get a word from God. The woman reminded Saul that she had listened to the king's promise that no harm would come to her, and her conduct reflected her faith in him. She then begged him to listen to her and to eat something since he was so weak, but Saul would not listen to her as he had not listened to God. Only after prolonged entreaty by the medium and Saul's servants did the king concede to eat. This proved to be Saul's "last supper."²⁷⁹ What a contrast it is with the Last Supper of Jesus Christ, the vice-regent who always listened to and obeyed God faithfully. Saul ate this meal in dread as he anticipated death the next day whereas Jesus ate His Last Supper in perfect peace.

We would expect that with such a striking warning Saul would have withdrawn Israel's army and fled south toward Gibeah and safety, but he did not. He evidently still felt that he could oppose God's word and succeed. He went into battle the next day and perished. God removed His unfaithful anointed because he proved to be an insubordinate and inattentive vice-regent. He also disciplined the nation Saul represented by allowing the Philistines to defeat Israel.

This pericope helps the reader appreciate the serious consequences of not listening to God's word and not obeying His will. Saul could not get guidance from God because God had ceased giving His rebellious servant directions. People sometimes cannot get guidance from God because they have been unwilling to listen to God and obey Him. He stops speaking to them. Saul then tried to get guidance from elsewhere. God graciously provided it to him in the form of a final warning, but Saul disregarded that too. He plunged forward to his death. Similarly Judas received a final warning from Jesus in the Upper Room, but he disregarded it and died within 24 hours. How important it is not to harden our hearts when God speaks to us (cf. Ps. 95:6-11; Heb. 3:7-8, 15; 4:7)!

Guzik: 1Sa 28:1-25

1 Samuel 28 - Saul and the Medium of Endor

The first two verses of 1 Samuel 28 connect with the previous chapter, so they are examined in the commentary on 1 Samuel 27.

A. Saul's distressing situation

1. (3-5) Saul's fear at the attack from the Philistines.

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. Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

a. Samuel had died: Samuel's death was originally reported in 1 Samuel 25:1. Here, the fact is mentioned again to emphasize the spiritual vacuum left by Samuel's departure.

b. Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land: To his credit, Saul obeyed the commands in the Mosaic Law to cast out those who practiced occultic arts. God commanded that mediums and spiritists (those who either can or claim to contact the dead and spirit beings) have no place among His people in passages such as Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 27 and in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Saul did this in his earlier days, when he was still influenced by Samuel's leadership.

i. Things such as tarot cards, palm readers, horoscopes and Ouija Boards are modern attempts to practice forms of spiritism. They are dangerous links to the demonic, even if undertaken in a spirit of fun. Christians should have nothing to do with occultic arts or practices.

c. Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem: The geography of Shunem means that the Philistines made an aggressive attack against Saul and Israel.

i. "Shunem, in the Valley of Jezreel, was about twenty miles north of Aphek, the most northerly Philistine city. The fact that the Philistines had penetrated thus far gives an indication of their dominance over Saul's kingdom, and of their intention to press further east to the Jordan." (Baldwin <Baldwin.htm>)

d. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly: Long before his downward spiral, when Saul still walked in the Spirit, he was a man of great courage (as in 1 Samuel 11:6-11). Saul began to lose his courage when the Holy Spirit withdrew from him (1 Samuel 16:14), and now, after the death of Samuel (the only man to have much spiritual influence on Saul) his courage seems almost completely gone.

2. (6) God will not speak to Saul.

And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.

a. When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him: Saul is in a terrible place. The Philistines threaten Israel, Saul's courage has failed him, and now God is silent when Saul seeks Him. Saul hoped that God would speak to him through dreams, but God was silent. He hoped God would speak to him through the Urim, but God was silent. He wanted to hear from God through the prophets, but God would not talk to Saul.

b. Why is God silent towards Saul? Won't God answer everyone who seeks Him? Not always; not when a man is in a place of judgment as Saul is. King Saul has rejected and is currently rejecting God's previously revealed will. Since Saul doesn't care to obey God in what he already knows, God will not give him more to know.

i. At the very least, Saul knew that God did not want him hunting David and hoping to kill him. Saul said as much in passages such as 1 Samuel 24:16-20 and 26:21. Yet, Saul disregarded what he knew to be God's will in this matter. If we want God to guide us, we must follow what guidance we do have from Him.

c. When we reject the word of the LORD, we can still be comforted by the fact that He is speaking to us. As we continue to reject His word, He will stop speaking to us - and we will lose even that comfort.

B. Saul consults a spirit medium.

1. (7-8) Saul seeks out a medium.

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 his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor." 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 seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you."

a. Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her: It wasn't easy to find a medium in the land of Israel, because Saul had previously put them out of the land. So Saul asks his staff to find him one, and they suggest a woman in the city of En Dor.

i. Traditionally, this woman is known as the Witch of Endor. It may be appropriate to call her a witch, but it is more accurate to call her a medium or a necromancer - one who makes contact with the dead. The Hebrew word for medium is owb, and it has the idea of "mumbling" or speaking with a strange, hollow sound - as if one were "channeling," with a dead person speaking through them. The Hebrew word has in mind the sound the channel makes as they speak. The English word medium has in mind the concept of a channel - they stand in-between the world of the living and the dead, and communicate between the two worlds.

ii. Saul recognized that a medium would likely be a woman. It is a persistent fact that women are more drawn to such occultic arts than men are. If we were to ask the Apostle Paul why this is the case, he would reply as he did in 1 Timothy 2:14 - that Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. This means that although men are culpable for the fall (Adam was not deceived, but sinned knowing exactly what he did), women are not to be given place of doctrinal or teaching authority in the church, because as daughters of Eve they are more susceptible to deception themselves.

iii. "Seek me a woman, rather than a man; for he thought that sex most likely to be given to those wicked arts, as being the weaker sex, and so aptest to be deceived, and most prone to superstition." (Poole <biblio.htm>)

iv. Poole, writing about the servants of Saul who helped him find this medium: "Instead of dissuading him from this wicked and destructive practice, which they should and would have done, if they had either loved God or their king, they further him in it."

v. "Endor was only a short distance away, on the north of the Hill of Moreh, and accessible despite the Philistine forces close by." (Baldwin <Baldwin.htm>) Endor was "located four miles northeast of Shunem and thus dangerously close to where the Philistines were encamped." (Youngblood <ebc.htm>)

b. Saul disguised himself . . . and he went: as Saul seeks the medium, he brings upon himself a curse. God said in Leviticus 20:6: And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.

c. Bring up the one I shall name for you: Saul will ask the medium to channel the deceased prophet Samuel. He does this because he wants to know what God might say to him! Saul is like a man going to a palm reader to hear the will of God.

i. This shows the depth of Saul's fall from God, and how it has affected his mind. He obviously isn't thinking clearly here. Once Saul rejected the truth, he was likely to fall for even the most foolish deception.

2. (9-10) Saul answers the suspicions of the medium.

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?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing."

a. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die? The medium wondered if this was a government "sting" operation; but Saul assures her - swearing in the name of the LORD, no less - that she won't be punished.

b. Saul swore to her by the LORD: Saul's oath in the name of the LORD reminds us that spiritual jargon means nothing. As certainly as the LORD lives, Saul was in complete disobedience and darkness! This is the last time Saul uses the name of the LORD. He uses it to swear to a medium that she will not be punished!

3. (11-14) To the medium's surprise, Samuel appears.

Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 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!" 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." 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.

a. Bring up Samuel for me: Why did Saul want to see Samuel? Considering the times Samuel strongly rebuked Saul (such as in 1 Samuel 15:22-29), we might think that Samuel was the last person Saul would want to see. Probably, Saul wanted to remember his "good old days" with Samuel, when the prophet was his guide and mentor (1 Samuel 9:25-26).

i. In the midst of his sin, depression and demonic influence, Saul forgot that Samuel was in fact his adversary when he slipped into sin (1 Samuel 13:13-14 and 15:22-29).

b. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice: Why the medium so shocked? Probably she was a fraud, and most of her dealings with the spirit realm were mere tricks. Now, Samuel really appears from the world beyond, and she is completely surprised to have a real encounter with the spirit realm.

i. In addition, we can say that this medium was familiar with the presence of demonic spirits, the presence of the Holy Spirit was probably completely unfamiliar to her. The holy presence of the Holy Spirit may have seemed terrifying to her. "The indications are that this was an extraordinary event for her, and a frightening one because she was not in control." (Baldwin <Baldwin.htm>)

c. Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul! The medium is also surprised, because now she knows that she is practicing her craft before the same king who drove out all the mediums and spiritists from Israel. She has reason to be afraid, both of the real spiritual presence she sees, and the king right beside her.

i. How did the medium know that the man was King Saul? We simply are not told how she knew this. It might have been something that Samuel said when he first appeared. It might have been a word of supernatural knowledge, communicated to her either from God or from the world of the demonic.

d. And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth." The Hebrew word translated spirit in the New King James Version is actually the Hebrew word elohim - literally, "gods," but often applied to the One God in plural form, to both reflect the truth of the Trinity and God's greatness, which is indicated in the Hebrew by the plural form. When the medium says she saw an elohim, does she mean that she saw the One True God? Does she mean that Samuel is deified? No; speaking from her own pagan context, she calls this appearing of Samuel an elohim because that was what it seemed to be in her pagan vocabulary. It is only she who calls Samuel an elohim.

i. "It seems that in ancient times the deceased could be referred to as 'gods' in that they lived in the realm of the preternatural." (Youngblood <ebc.htm>)

ii. The medium and Saul encounter what the medium calls an elohim - "gods." But Saul will say, "God [elohim] has departed from me" (1 Samuel 28:15). Saul had no trouble understanding that even though the medium referred to Samuel as an elohim because of her occultic background, this appearance of Samuel was not the real God of heaven. He makes the distinction in is wording.

iii. "She useth the plural number, gods, either after the manner of the Hebrew language, which commonly useth that word of one person; or after the language and custom of the heathens." (Poole <biblio.htm>)

iv. Saul came "Ascending out of the earth, as though it came from the place of the dead." (Poole <biblio.htm>)

e. Saul perceived that it was Samuel: However Samuel appeared, he was visible to both the medium and Saul. This wasn't a "crystal ball" appearance that only the medium could pretend to see. Nor was it a "voice in the dark" that one might encounter in a séance. This was a real appearance of Samuel.

f. What is going on here? This strange incident is controversial, and several different approaches have been used to understand this passage. Here are four of the most commonly suggested possibilities.

i. Some believe that this was a hallucination of the medium. But this doesn't make sense, because it doesn't explain why the medium was so frightened. It doesn't explain why Saul saw Samuel also, and why Samuel spoke to Saul, not to the medium.

ii. Some believe that this was a deception by the medium. But this also isn't an adequate explanation, for the same reasons given to the previous suggestion.

iii. Some believe that this was a demonic impersonation of Samuel. It is possible that the medium, with her occultic powers, summoned a demonic spirit that deceived both her and Saul. But this suggestion is also inadequate, because it does not speak to the issue of motive. After all, what advantage does Satan gain by "Samuel's" words to Saul?

iv. Some believe that this was a genuine (but strange) appearance of Samuel. This is the best explanation, because it is supported by the reaction of the medium, who got more than she bargained for. It is also supported by the truth of what Samuel said (and the text says that Samuel said it). Some may say that it is impossible for Samuel to reappear in some way, coming from the world beyond back to this world. But Moses and Elijah also came from the world beyond back to this world when they appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3).

v. Clarke makes an additional valuable point: "I believe that the woman of En-dor had no power over Samuel; and that no incantation can avail over any departed saint of God, nor indeed over any human disembodied spirit." Samuel really came, but not because the medium called for him. Samuel appeared because God had a special purpose for it.

g. What was God's purpose in sending such a strange appearance of Samuel? This appearance of Samuel accomplished two things: it re-confirmed the coming judgment upon King Saul's in a dramatic way, and it taught the medium a powerful lesson about the dangers of her occultic craft.

i. "I believe Samuel did actually appear to Saul; and that he was sent by the especial mercy of God to warn this infatuated king of his approaching death, that he might have an opportunity to make his peace with his Maker." (Clarke <Clarke.htm>)

ii. When we close our ears to God, He will find unusual - and perhaps uncomfortable - ways to speak to us. "That he did appear to Saul, there can be no question, but he did not come in response to her call. He was sent of God, for the express purpose of rebuking Saul for his unholy traffic with these evil things, and to pronounce his doom." (Morgan)

C. Samuel speaks to Saul.

1. (15-18) Samuel tells King Saul why the LORD will not speak to him.

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." Then Samuel said: "Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? 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. 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.

a. Why have you disturbed me? Samuel's words would be in the mouth of anyone who had left the place of comfort and blessing in the world beyond to come back to the earth. Samuel would rather be back where he was!

i. This is an indication to us of the reality of the world beyond. Though he passed from this world, Samuel was in a real place, living a real existence. We need to live every day with the understanding of the reality of eternity, of the world beyond. Much of this life will only make sense in light of the world to come.

ii. Properly speaking, Samuel was not in heaven. Jesus explained in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) that before the finished work of Jesus on the cross, the believing dead went to a place of comfort and blessing known as Abraham's bosom. When Jesus finished his work on the cross, the sin's penalty was paid for these believing dead, and they were then ushered into heaven.

b. I am deeply distressed: Saul explains his problem to Samuel. First, the Philistines make war against me. But far worse than that is the fact that Saul knows that God has departed from me and does not answer me any more. Saul then reveals why he called for Samuel: that you may reveal to me what I should do.

i. God has departed from me: "God never departs from a man until the man has departed from Him. Then, in the interests of righteousness, God is against that man." (Morgan)

ii. What I should do: "Saul is asking for guidance when his course of action is obvious: he has to fight the Philistines. What he really wants is reassurance that all will be well and that he will win the battle." (Baldwin <Baldwin.htm>)

iii. Strangely, though Saul knew that God would not speak to him in any other way, or through any of the other prophets, he thought that somehow or some way the godly prophet Samuel, conjured by a medium, would speak wisdom to him! Even more strangely, Samuel will!

c. What does Samuel say to Saul? Why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? This is a very logical question for Samuel to ask. Samuel was on the LORD's side, so if the LORD wouldn't tell Saul what he wanted, he didn't have any reason to believe that Samuel would.

i. Perhaps Saul kept seeking, hoping that that the news would get better, but it never does!

d. As He spoke by me . . . the voice of the LORD: Essentially, Samuel confirms what God had already said to Saul. The message of the LORD to Saul is disturbingly consistent; no matter which strange way God chooses to bring the message.

i. The test for any "spirit encounter" or "angelic revelation" is its faithfulness to the Biblical message. It doesn't matter what kind of impressive encounter one has with a spiritual being; even if an angel from heaven (or Samuel himself!) preach any other gospel to you . . . let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8).

e. Because you did not . . . execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day: Samuel calls Saul's mind back to the events recorded in 1 Samuel 15. In that chapter, Samuel told Saul "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you . . . For He is not a man, that He should relent" (1 Samuel 15:28-29). Apparently, in the fifteen or so years since the events of 1 Samuel 15, Saul thought that perhaps the LORD had changed His mind! Samuel came to tell Saul that the LORD had not changed His mind at all.

i. Samuel makes this point exactly when he quotes from the 1 Samuel 15:28-29 passage with these words: For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. God's word to Saul didn't change at all from the time He first said it until the time it would be fulfilled. Perhaps Saul thought that time would change God's mind; but time never changes God's mind. Our repentance and genuine brokenness may change God's mind, but never time.

ii. When the medium saw Samuel, she said he was covered with a mantle. The mantle was probably Samuel's robe, which would have identified him as both a prophet and a priest. In 1 Samuel 15:27, when Samuel announced that God would take the kingdom away from Saul, Saul grabbed Samuel's robe in desperation. The Hebrew word used for robe in 1 Samuel 15:27 (meheel) is the same word used for mantle in 1 Samuel 28:14. It is likely that when Samuel appeared before the medium and Saul, he wore in this same torn robe to remind Saul that the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David.

2. (19) Samuel tells Saul about his fate.

"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."

a. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: Saul learns from Samuel that he will die the next day. In 1 Samuel 28:16, Saul asked to know what I should do. Samuel never told him what to do, because it was too late to do anything. All Samuel told him was what would happen, and God's judgment was already in motion.

i. Before this time, Saul had plenty of time to repent; but now time has run out. We can never assume that we will have as much time as we want to repent. The desire to repent, and the opportunity to repent are gifts from God. If we have the desire and the opportunity today, we must seize upon it, because it may not be there tomorrow.

ii. When Samuel said you and your sons will be with me, did it mean that Saul was going to heaven, that he would be with the believing dead? Not necessarily. In the story Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31, the blessed dead and the cursed dead were both in the same general area. The believing dead were in the place of comfort knows as the Abraham's bosom, but the cursed dead were in a place or torment. So, Saul would be in the same general area as Samuel, but not the same specific place.

b. The LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines . . . you and your sons: When judgment fell upon Saul, it would also trouble the people around him. His sons and all Israel would also suffer also.

i. "Can any person read this, properly considering the situation of this unfortunate monarch, the triumph of the enemies of God, and the speedy ruin in which the godlike Jonathan is about to be involved, without feeling the keenest anguish of heart?" (Clarke <Clarke.htm>)

D. Saul's reaction and departure.

1. (20) Saul reacts with fear and a loss of all strength.

Then 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.

a. Because of the words of Samuel: It wasn't just that Samuel told Saul that he would die, or fall in battle before the Philistines. Far worse to Saul was the knowledge that the LORD was his adversary; that not only were the Philistines set against him, but so was the LORD God. Knowing this is more than Saul can bear.

2. (21-25) The medium comforts Saul.

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. 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." 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. 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. So she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

a. The woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled: It's a sad note when a practitioner of the occult is comforting the King of Israel. But they were two of the same kind; each lived in rebellion to God, and each was under judgment from the LORD.

b. And they ate: The dinner Saul ate that night was like the last meal of a man on death row, waiting execution in the morning.

c. Then he rose and went away that night: Saul leaves this strange encounter resigned to his fate. Even if he didn't learn his lessons from this, we can hear what the LORD would say in this chapter.

i. To hear from the LORD, we should begin by obeying what we already know He has told us in His word.

ii. We should reject any connection with the occult or spiritists.

iii. When we close our ears to God, He will find unusual - and perhaps uncomfortable - ways to speak to us.

iv. We must understand - and appreciate - the reality of the world beyond this present world.

v. The test of any spiritual experience or revelation is how it measures against God's Word.

vi. God's Word stays the same. Time does not make Him change His mind.

d. "The additional information, that within twenty-four hours he and his sons would be dead, was no help at all to his morale. Indeed he would have been better without it. He did himself no good by doing what he had decreed to be unlawful. God's word stood and could not be altered. He should have believed it instead of thinking that by further consultation he could reverse its judgment. The Lord did not answer him, because there was no more to be said." (Baldwin <Baldwin.htm>)

© 2001 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF SAMUEL. The two were, by the ancient Jews, conjoined so as to make one book, and in that form could be called the Book of Samuel with more propriety than now, the second being wholly occupied with the relation of transactions that did not take place till after the death of that eminent judge. Accordingly, in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is called the First and Second Books of Kings. The early portion of the First Book, down to the end of the twenty-fourth chapter, was probably written by Samuel; while the rest of it and the whole of the Second, are commonly ascribed to Nathan and Gad, founding the opinion on 1Ch 29:29. Commentators, however, are divided about this, some supposing that the statements in 1Sa 2:26; 1Sa 3:1, indicate the hand of the judge himself, or a contemporary; while some think, from 1Sa 6:18; 1Sa 12:5; 1Sa 27:6, that its composition must be referred to a later age. It is probable, however, that these supposed marks of an after-period were interpolations of Ezra. This uncertainty, however, as to the authorship does not affect the inspired authority of the book, which is indisputable, being quoted in the New Testament (1Sa 13:14 in Act 13:22, and 2Sa 7:14 in Heb 1:5), as well as in many of the Psalms.

JFB: 1 Samuel (Outline)

• OF ELKANAH AND HIS TWO WIVES. (1Sa 1:1-8)
• HANNAH'S PRAYER. (1Sa 1:9-18)
• SAMUEL BORN. (1Sa 1:20)
• HANNAH'S SONG IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD. (1Sa 2:1-11)
• THE SIN OF ELI'S SONS. (1Sa 2:12-17)
• SAMUEL'S MINISTRY. (1Sa 2:18-26)
• A PROPHECY AGAINST ELI'S HOUSE. (1Sa 2:27-35)
• THE LORD APPEARS TO SAMUEL IN A VISION. (1Sa 3:1-10)
• ISRAEL OVERCOME BY THE PHILISTINES. (1Sa 4:1-11)
• ELI HEARING THE TIDINGS. (1Sa 4:12-22)
• THE PHILISTINES BRING THE ARK INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON. (1Sa 5:1-2)
• DAGON FALLS DOWN. (1Sa 5:3-5)
• THE PHILISTINES ARE SMITTEN WITH EMERODS. (1Sa 5:6-12)
• THE PHILISTINES COUNSEL HOW TO SEND BACK THE ARK. (1Sa 6:1-9)
• THE ARK AT KIRJATH-JEARIM. (1Sa 7:1-2)
• THE ISRAELITES, THROUGH SAMUEL'S INFLUENCE, SOLEMNLY REPENT AT MIZPEH. (1Sa 7:3-6)
• WHILE SAMUEL PRAYS, THE PHILISTINES ARE DISCOMFITED. (1Sa 7:7-14)
• OCCASIONED BY THE ILL-GOVERNMENT OF SAMUEL'S SONS, THE ISRAELITES ASK A KING. (1Sa. 8:1-18)
• SAUL, DESPAIRING TO FIND HIS FATHER'S ASSES, COMES TO SAMUEL. (1Sa 9:1-14)
• GOD REVEALS TO SAMUEL SAUL'S COMING, AND HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE KINGDOM. (1Sa 9:15-27)
• SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL, AND CONFIRMS HIM BY THE PREDICTION OF THREE SIGNS. (1Sa. 10:1-27)
• NAHASH OFFERS THEM OF JABESH-GILEAD A REPROACHFUL CONDITION. (1Sa 11:1-4)
• THEY SEND TO SAUL, AND ARE DELIVERED. (1Sa 11:5-11)
• SAUL CONFIRMED KING. (1Sa 11:12-15)
• SAMUEL TESTIFIES HIS INTEGRITY. (1Sa 12:1-5)
• HE TERRIFIES THEM WITH THUNDER IN HARVEST-TIME. (1Sa 12:17-25)
• SAUL'S SELECTED BAND. (1Sa 13:1-2)
• HE CALLS THE HEBREWS TO GILGAL AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. (1Sa 13:3-4)
• THE PHILISTINES' GREAT HOST. (1Sa 13:5)
• THE ISRAELITES' DISTRESS. (1Sa 13:6-8)
• SAUL, WEARY OF WAITING FOR SAMUEL, SACRIFICES. (1Sa 13:9-16)
• JONATHAN MIRACULOUSLY SMITES THE PHILISTINES' GARRISON. (1Sa 14:1-14)
• SAUL SENT TO DESTROY AMALEK. (1Sa 15:1-6)
• HE SPARES AGAG AND THE BEST OF THE SPOIL. (1Sa 15:7-9)
• GOD REJECTS HIS FOR DISOBEDIENCE. (1Sa 15:10-11)
• SAMUEL SENT BY GOD TO BETHLEHEM. (1Sa 16:1-10)
• HE ANOINTS DAVID. (1Sa 16:11-14)
• THE ISRAELITES AND PHILISTINES BEING READY TO BATTLE. (1Sa 17:1-3)
• GOLIATH CHALLENGES A COMBAT. (1Sa 17:4-11)
• DAVID ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE, AND SLAYS HIM. (1Sa. 17:12-58)
• JONATHAN LOVES DAVID. (1Sa 18:1-4)
• SAUL ENVIES HIS PRAISE. (1Sa 18:5-9)
• SEEKS TO KILL HIM. (1Sa 18:10-12)
• FEARS HIM FOR HIS GOOD SUCCESS. (1Sa 18:13-16)
• HE OFFERS HIM HIS DAUGHTER FOR A SNARE. (1Sa 18:17-21)
• JONATHAN DISCLOSES HIS FATHER'S PURPOSE TO KILL DAVID. (1Sa 19:1-7)
• SAUL'S MALICIOUS RAGE BREAKS OUT AGAINST DAVID. (1Sa 19:8-17)
• DAVID FLEES TO SAMUEL. (1Sa 19:18-23)
• SAUL PROPHESIES. (1Sa 19:24)
• DAVID CONSULTS WITH JONATHAN FOR HIS SAFETY. (1Sa 20:1-10)
• THEIR COVENANT RENEWED BY OATH. (1Sa 20:11-23)
• SAUL, MISSING DAVID, SEEKS TO KILL JONAHAN. (1Sa. 20:24-40)
• JONATHAN AND DAVID LOVINGLY PART. (1Sa 20:41-42)
• DAVID, AT NOB, OBTAINS OF AHIMELECH HALLOWED BREAD. (1Sa 21:1-7)
• HE TAKES GOLIATH'S SWORD. (1Sa 21:9)
• AT GATH HE FEIGNS HIMSELF MAD. (1Sa 21:10-15)
• DAVID'S KINDRED AND OTHERS RESORT TO HIM AT ADULLAM. (1Sa 22:1-8)
• DOEG ACCUSES AHIMELECH. (1Sa 22:9-16)
• SAUL COMMANDS TO KILL THE PRIESTS. (1Sa 22:17-19)
• ABIATHAR ESCAPES AND FLEES AFTER DAVID. (1Sa 22:20-23)
• DAVID RESCUES KEILAH. (1Sa 23:1-6)
• SAUL'S COMING, AND TREACHERY OF THE KEILITES. (1Sa 23:7-13)
• DAVID ESCAPES TO ZIPH. (1Sa 23:14-18)
• SAUL PURSUES HIM. (1Sa 23:19-29)
• DAVID IN A CAVE AT ENGEDI CUTS OFF SAUL'S SKIRT, BUT SPARES HIS LIFE. (1Sa 24:1-7)
• HE URGES THEREBY HIS INNOCENCY. (1Sa 24:8-15)
• SAMUEL DIES. (1Sa 25:1-9)
• THE CHURLISH ANSWER PROVOKES HIM. (1Sa 25:10-13)
• ABIGAIL PACIFIES HIM. (1Sa. 25:14-35)
• NABAL'S DEATH. (1Sa 25:36-44)
• SAUL COMES TO THE HILL OF HACHILAH AGAINST DAVID. (1Sa 26:1-4)
• DAVID STAYS ABISHAI FROM KILLING SAUL, BUT TAKES HIS SPEAR AND CRUSE. (1Sa. 26:5-25)
• SAUL HEARING THAT DAVID WAS FLED TO GATH, SEEKS NO MORE FOR HIM. (1Sa 27:1-4)
• DAVID BEGS ZIKLAG OF ACHISH. (1Sa 27:5-12)
• ACHISH'S CONFIDENCE IN DAVID. (1Sa 28:1-6)
• SAUL SEEKS A WITCH, WHO, BEING ENCOURAGED BY HIM, RAISES UP SAMUEL. (1Sa. 28:7-25)
• DAVID MARCHING WITH THE PHILISTINES TO FIGHT WITH ISRAEL. (1Sa 29:1-5)
• THE AMALEKITES SPOIL ZIKLAG. (1Sa 30:1-5)
• BUT DAVID, ENCOURAGED BY GOD, PURSUES THEM. (1Sa 30:6-15)
• AND RECOVERS HIS TWO WIVES AND ALL THE SPOIL. (1Sa. 30:16-31)
• SAUL HAVING LOST HIS ARMY AT GILBOA, AND HIS SONS BEING SLAIN, HE AND HIS ARMOR-BEARER KILL THEMSELVES. (1Sa 31:1-7)
• THE PHILISTINES TRIUMPH OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES. (1Sa 31:8-10)
• THE MEN OF JABESH-GILEAD RECOVER THE BODIES AND BURY THEM AT JABESH. (1Sa 31:11-13)

TSK: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

The First Book of SAMUEL, otherwise called " The First Book of the KINGS."

TSK: 1 Samuel 28 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

1Sa 28:1, Achish puts confidence in David; 1Sa 28:3, Saul having destroyed the witches, 1Sa 28:4, and now in his fear forsaken of God, 1Sa 28:7, has recourse to a witch; 1Sa 28:8, who, encouraged by Saul, raises up Samuel; 1Sa 28:15, Saul hearing his ruin, faints; 1Sa 28:21, The woman and his servants refresh him with meat.

Poole: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL OTHERWISE CALLED

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE KINGS.

THE ARGUMENT.

IT is not certainly known who was the penman of this Book, or whether it was written by one or more hands; nor is it or any great importance; for since there are sufficient evidences that God was the chief author of it, it matters not who was the instrument. As when it appears that such a thing was really an act of parliament, or of the council-table, it is not considerable who was the clerk or which was the pen that wrote it. And this is the less material in such historical hooks, wherein there is but little which concerns the foundation of faith and good life, and therefore it was not necessary to name the writer of them. It may abundantly suffice that there were in these times divers prophets and holy men of God; as Samuel, and Nathan, and Gad, and David himself, who might each of them write some part of this and the following book. But if any man will out of perverseness doubt or deny that these wrote it, yet this I suppose no discreet and impartial man will deny, that it is wholly incredible that such books should be written in their times, and recommended to the church as a part of the Holy Scriptures, and so received by the succeeding generation, without their approbation, who had so great a power and authority in the church and commonwealth of Israel.

Poole: 1 Samuel 28 (Chapter Introduction)

SAMUEL CHAPTER 28

Achish intending war against Israel, relieth on David, 1Sa 28:1,2 . Saul having destroyed the witches, yet, Samuel being dead, in his fear, forsaken of God, seeketh to a witch, 1Sa 28:3-8 . She, encouraged by Saul, raiseth Samuel; of whom hearing his approaching ruin, he fainteth, 1Sa 28:9-20 . The woman, with his servants, refresh him with meat, 1Sa 28:21-25 .

The Philistines were encouraged by Samuel’ s death, and Saul’ s degeneration, and David’ s presence with Achish.

MHCC: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

In this book we have an account of Eli, and the wickedness of his sons; also of Samuel, his character and actions. Then of the advancement of Saul to be the king of Israel, and his ill behaviour, until his death made way for David's succession to the throne, who was an eminent type of Christ. David's patience, modesty, constancy, persecution by open enemies and feigned friends, are a pattern and example to the church, and to every member of it. Many things in this book encourage the faith, hope, and patience of the suffering believer. It contains also many useful cautions and awful warnings.

MHCC: 1 Samuel 28 (Chapter Introduction)

(1Sa 28:1-6) Achish puts confidence in David, Saul's fear.

(1Sa 28:7-19) Saul consults a witch at Endor.

(1Sa 28:20-25) Saul's terror.

Matthew Henry: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Book of Samuel

This book, and that which follows it, bear the name of Samuel in the title, not because he was the penman of them (except of so much of them as fell within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter of the first book, in which we have an account of his death), but because the first book begins with a large account of him, his birth and childhood, his life and government; and the rest of these two volumes that are denominated from him contains the history of the reigns of Saul and David, who were both anointed by him. And, because the history of these two kings takes up the greatest part of these books, the Vulgar latin calls them the First and Second Books of the Kings, and the two that follow the Third and Fourth, which the titles in our English Bibles take notice of with an alias: otherwise called the First Book of the Kings, etc. The Septuagint calls them the first and second Book of the Kingdoms. It is needless to contend about it, but there is no occasion to vary from the Hebrew verity. These two books contain the history of the last two of the judges, Eli and Samuel, who were not, as the rest, men of war, but priests (and so much of them is an appendix to the book of Judges), and of the first two of the kings, Saul and David, and so much of them is an entrance upon the history of the kings. They contain a considerable part of the sacred history, are sometimes referred to in the New Testament, and often in the titles of David's Psalms, which, if placed in their order, would fall in these books. It is uncertain who was the penman of them; it is probable that Samuel wrote the history of his own time, and that, after him, some of the prophets that were with David (Nathan as likely as any) continued it. This first book gives us a full account of Eli's fall and Samuel's rise and good government, ch. 1-8. Of Samuel's resignation of the government and Saul's advancement and mal-administration, ch. 9-15. The choice of David, his struggles with Saul, Saul's ruin at last, and the opening of the way for David to the throne, ch. 16-31. And these things are written for our learning.

Matthew Henry: 1 Samuel 28 (Chapter Introduction)

Preparations are herein making for that war which will put an end to the life and reign of Saul, and so make way for David to the throne. In this war, I. The Philistines are the aggressors and Achish their king makes David his confidant (1Sa 28:1, 1Sa 28:2). II. The Israelites prepare to receive them, and Saul their king makes the devil his privy-counsellor, and thereby fills the measure of his iniquity. Observe, 1. The despairing condition which Saul was in (1Sa 28:3-6). 2. The application he made to a witch, to bring him up Samuel (1Sa 28:7-14). 3. His discourse with the apparition (1Sa 28:15-19). The damp it struck upon him (1Sa 28:20-25).

Constable: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

First and Second Samuel were originally one book called the Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (made ca. 250 B.C.) was the first to divide it into two books. The Septuagint translators titled these books 1 and 2 Kingdoms. That division has persisted ever since and has even been incorporated into subsequent editions of the Hebrew Bible (since A.D. 1517). The title "Samuel" was given by Jerome in his Latin translation, the Vulgate (ca. A.D. 400).

The Jews gave the name "Samuel" to it because Samuel is the first major character in the book. Samuel anointed both Saul and David, so in this respect he was superior to them both.

Date and Writer

Statements in the Book of Samuel imply that someone who had witnessed at least some of the events recorded wrote it. However the original writer must have written most of it after Samuel's death (i.e., -1 Sam. 25-2 Sam. 24) and some of it even after the division of the kingdom following Solomon's death (e.g., 1 Sam. 27:6). These features have made it difficult to date the book.

"Our guess is that the author was a high state official in frequent attendance at the court, enjoying the full confidence of David and his household, who served David throughout his reign in Jerusalem and also Solomon during the early years of his reign, and whose duties may have been connected with literary work."¹

Most conservative scholars prefer the view that Samuel may have written or been responsible for noting the record of earlier events in the book (chs. 1-24). Then some unidentifiable writer put it in its final form later, perhaps soon after Solomon's death.

Rationalistic critics of the book tend to believe it was the result of much more piecing together, and some of them date its final form as late as 500 B.C.²

Scope

The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.³ David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11; 5:5). This means he came to power in 1011 B.C. Saul also reigned for 40 years (Acts 13:21) so he became king in 1051 B.C. We can estimate the date of Samuel's birth fairly certainly on the basis of chronological references in the text to have been about 1121 B.C.⁴ Thus the Book of Samuel covers about 1121-971 B.C., or about 150 years of history.

We should note that the first part of 1 Samuel overlaps historically with the end of the judges period that we find in the Book of Judges. Apparently Samson was born just a few years before Samuel. Samson's 20-year judgeship evidently began shortly before the battle of Aphek (1104 B.C.) at which time Eli died (1 Sam. 4:18). It ended not many years before the battle of Mizpah (1084 B.C.) when the Philistine domination of Israel ceased temporarily (1 Sam. 7:13). Samuel's ministry therefore probably ran concurrent with that of Samson until Samson died. Saul began to reign about 35 years after Samson died (i.e., 1051 B.C.). Samuel evidently lived about 30 years after that.⁵

Old Testament History
Events	Biblical References
Creation to Israel's move to Egypt	Genesis 1-50
The Exodus	Exodus 1-18
Israel at Mt. Sinai	Exodus 19--Numbers 10
The Wilderness Wanderings	Numbers 11-21
Israel on the Plains of Moab	Numbers 22--Joshua 2
The Conquest and Division of Canaan	Joshua 3-24
The Amphictyony	-Judges 1-1 Samuel 7
The Reign of Saul	1 Samuel 8-31; 1 Chronicles 10
The Reign of David	2 Samuel 1-24; 1 Chronicles 11-29
The Reign of Solomon	1 Kings 1-11; 2 Chronicles 1-9
The Divided Monarchy	-1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17; 2 Chronicles 10-31
The Surviving Kingdom of Judah	2 Kings 18-25; 2 Chronicles 32-36
The Return under Zerubbabel	Ezra 1-6
The Return under Ezra	Ezra 7-10
The Return under Nehemiah	Nehemiah 1-13

Message⁶

First and 2 Samuel are really one story. The translators divided them into two books for convenience, not because of subject matter.

First Samuel records Israel's transition from amphictyony to monarchy.

The key passage that explains this transition is 8:4-7. Two statements from this passage are especially significant.

The human desire that produced the transition expressed itself in verse 5: "Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." God had brought Israel into existence as a nation to be unlike all the nations (Exod. 19:5-6). The essence of its uniqueness was Yahweh's rule over it as King. God wanted Israel to be a demonstration for all the world to see how glorious it can be to live under the authority of God.

The real meaning of the people's request comes out in verse 7: ". . . they have rejected me from being king over them." During the period of the judges, religious apostasy spread and characterized Israel. The people refused to obey their King. It is this attitude that finds expression in verse 5. The people wanted to substitute the false for the true. This is the essence of sin, and it results in idolatry. Every idol is a witness to man's need of God. When people reject the true God they must put something in His place to meet that need. Human beings must have a god.

Israel turned from God as her King in 1 Samuel. She desired a king like the other nations. This book shows the immediate effects of that desire.

One of the great revelations of 1 Samuel is how from the human viewpoint God adapts to continue His reign.

This statement appears to contradict 8:7, but it does not. The people rejected Yahweh, but they did not dethrone Him. The first act is possible, the second is not. This is a major lesson of 1 Samuel. The great revelation of this book is not primarily its three central figures: Samuel, Saul, and David. It is Yahweh reigning by adapting to human situations and moving surely and steadily toward the fulfillment of His purposes. In spite of disobedience or obedience, failure or success, rebellious or loyal people, the reign of God moves on. We see this great lesson in the history of 1 Samuel's three central figures: Samuel, Saul, and David.

The writer introduced Samuel's story with his mother Hannah's experience with God. Hannah was a great woman of faith who lived in the judges period. Her faith became God's foothold for advance. Her song reveals a profound appreciation for Yahweh as the God who reigns over all (2:6-8, 10). The similarities between this prayer and Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1 are interesting and noteworthy.

Samuel was a prophet. In one sense he was the first of the prophets (Acts 3:24). Of course, Moses was a prophet and so was Abraham, but Samuel was the first of the order of prophets who mediated between God and the Israelites during the monarchy. The kings of Israel and Judah were never mediators between God and the people in the sense of speaking for God to the people. When the Israelites rejected Yahweh as their king, He withdrew from close communion and intimate fellowship with them. He never recognized their kings as standing between Himself and them to mediate His Word to the people. He chose their kings for them. He allowed their desire for a human king to work itself out in ultimate disaster through the centuries that followed. Yet He never spoke to the people through the king. He always spoke to them through the prophets. Samuel was the first of these. David, of course, was a king and a prophet. The role of the kings was to govern the people. The role of the prophets was to reveal God's will to them.

With Samuel the office of prophet in Israel emerges as that of Yahweh's authoritative representative to His people. Samuel became the king-maker finding and anointing both Saul and David. >From now on when God had a message for the people it normally did not come directly to the king but to the king and the people through the prophet. The prophet's office was always superior to that of Israel's kings. (You have the privilege of speaking for God to your generation. You have a high calling similar to that of Israel's prophets.) When Israel rejected Yahweh as her king, God chose Samuel, the child of a woman's simple faith, trained him in the tabernacle, and called him when he was only a boy. Then He gave him a message to deliver and sent him to anoint Saul as the king after the people's own heart, and David as the king after God's own heart. The prophets became God's mediators, His messengers, and the interpreters of His law. Thus Yahweh reigned though He adapted His methods of ruling by raising up the prophets. He called Samuel as the first of these mediators. During the monarchy God provided guidance through two offices rather than through one as He had done previously. The kings provided political leadership, and the prophets gave the people spiritual leadership. God had previously provided both types of leadership through single individuals namely Moses, Joshua, and the judges.

Saul's story is one of the most tragic in Scripture. It is unusually fascinating and has tremendous power in its appeal to our lives. When God placed Saul on Israel's throne He answered the prayer of His rebellious people in 8:5. God "gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease among them" (Ps. 106:15; NASB).

Saul was a revelation to the Israelites of what the possession of "a king like the nations" really meant. He had unusual physical strength, but he was fitful and he failed the people. He had mental acumen, but he was moody and eventually turned into a madman. He was sluggish and dull spiritually lacking in spiritual insight and power, and eventually he abandoned Yahweh for a witch.

His reign was also a disaster. At the beginning of his reign, Israel was virtually without a leader. At its end it was under the control of an enemy neighbor. Saul was never able to expand the borders of Israel because he never was strong enough to dominate his enemy neighbors. David on the other hand did both of these things. At the end of Saul's reign, Israel had almost destroyed itself through its wars with the Philistines.

David's story is one of the most glorious in Scripture. After Saul, God gave His people another king, but this time he was a man after God's own heart.

God prepared David for the throne by putting him through training as a shepherd in the fields, a courtier in the palace, and an "outlaw" in exile. (By "outlaw" I do not mean David was lawless but that he lived outside Saul's control.) His shepherd training prepared him to care for and protect the Israelites under his charge. His courtier experience prepared him to deal with high governmental leaders. His "outlaw" years perfected the disciplines that enabled him to become a strong ruler. These disciplines included relying on God in every situation, practicing self-restraint, and leading his people.

In all David's training God was reigning, moving forward to the fulfillment of His plans and purposes. God had previously done this by making the child of faith, Samuel, His prophet. He had also done this by making outwardly promising Saul a revelation to the nation of her sins in turning away from God.

The second great revelation of this book is that people cooperate with God by either being loyal or by being disloyal to Him.

In Samuel's case he had opportunity to glorify God because of his parentage, his call by God, and his appointment as God's prophet. He responded obediently, with loyalty to God. Consequently God's messages got delivered, and God's work moved ahead. Samuel was an instrument of blessing.

In Saul's case he had opportunity to glorify God too. His opportunity came in his call by God, his anointing by Samuel, his friendship with Samuel, his popularity with the people, and his personal abilities. He responded disobediently, with disloyalty to God as seen in his vacillating and self-will. Consequently he failed as a king, and he died under the judgment of God. His life was a failure.

In David's case his opportunities were his call, his anointing, his waiting, and his suffering. He responded obediently, with loyalty to God. Consequently he became God's instrument of progress and blessing. He was a success.

Each man had his opportunity, made his response, and experienced the consequences of his response. Two obeyed, one disobeyed. All cooperated with God in fulfilling His ultimate purposes either to his own blessing or to his own blasting.

As a result of these two major revelations I would summarize the message of 1 Samuel as follows. God will accomplish His purposes regardless of man's personal response to Him. However man's response to God's revealed will determines a person's own success or failure in life.

First Samuel teaches us the methods of the sovereign God. All territory is within God's jurisdiction, every person is under His control, and all events are in His hands. All of God's plans and purposes are moving toward accomplishment. He makes use of all antagonistic facts and forces as well as all positive facts and forces. He also makes use of all the agents He has chosen to use regardless of their responses. Paul's comments in 2 Tim. 2:20-21 are very much to the point here.

First Samuel also teaches us that God's ultimate victory is independent of the attitudes and actions of individuals and groups of people (e.g., Israel) toward Him. Nevertheless the ultimate destiny of individuals and groups of people depends on their attitudes and actions toward Him.

Samuel was obedient, was God's instrument, and experienced deliverance. Saul was disobedient, was God's instrument, and experienced destruction. David was obedient, was God's instrument, and experienced deliverance. My attitudes and actions do not determine God's ultimate victory, but they do determine my ultimate destiny. Everything depends on my choices and me regarding my earthly destiny. Nothing depends on me regarding God's ultimate victory. God uses all people, loyal and rebellious, to produce His ultimate purposes. However we determine the outcome of our lives by our attitudes and responses to Him. We see these principles working themselves out around us all the time. Dr. Walvoord is an example of a Samuel or a David in our day. The DTS graduates in prison are examples of the Sauls of our day.

Constable: 1 Samuel (Outline)

Outline

I. Eli and Samuel chs. 1-3

A. The change from barrenness to fertility 1:1-2:10

1. Hannah's condition 1:1-8

2. Hannah's vow 1:9-18

3. Hannah's obedience 1:19-28

4. Hannah's song 2:1-10

B. The contrast between Samuel and Eli's sons 2:11-36

1. Eli's sons' wickedness 2:11-17

2. Hannah's godly influence on Samuel and its effect 2:18-21

3. Eli's lack of influence on his sons and its effect 2:22-26

4. The oracle against Eli's house 2:27-36

C. God's first revelation to Samuel ch. 3

1. Samuel's call 3:1-18

2. Samuel's ministry 3:19-4:1a

II. The history of the ark of the covenant 4:1b-7:1

A. The capture of the ark 4:1b-22

1. The battle of Aphek 4:1b-11

2. The response of Eli 4:12-18

3. The response of Phinehas' wife 4:19-22

B. Pagan fertility foiled by God ch. 5

C. The ark returned to Israel by God 6:1-7:1

1. The plan to terminate God's judgment 6:1-9

2. The return of the ark to Bethshemesh 6:10-18

3. The removal of the ark to Kiriath-jearim 6:19-7:1

III. Samuel and Saul 7:2-15:35

A. Samuel's ministry as Israel's judge 7:2-17

1. Samuel's spiritual leadership 7:2-4

2. National repentance and deliverance 7:5-14

3. Samuel's regular ministry 7:15-17

B. Kingship given to Saul chs. 8-12

1. The demand for a king ch. 8

2. The anointing of Saul 9:1-10:16

3. The choice of Saul by lot 10:17-27

4. Saul's effective leadership in battle 11:1-11

5. The confirmation of Saul as king 11:12-12:25

C. Kingship removed from Saul chs. 13-15

1. Saul's disobedience at Gilgal 13:1-15

2. Saul's struggle against the Philistines 13:16-14:23

3. Saul's cursing of Jonathan 14:24-46

4. Saul's limited effectiveness in battle 14:47-52

5. Yahweh's final rejection of Saul ch. 15

IV. Saul and David 1 Sam. 16-31

A. David's rise as the new anointed 16:1-18:5

1. God's selection of David for kingship ch. 16

2. The reason for God's selection of David ch. 17

3. The results of God's selection of David ch. 18:1-19:17

B. David driven out by Saul 19:18-20:42

1. God's deliverance in Ramah 19:18-24

2. Jonathan's advocacy for David ch. 20

C. David in exile chs. 21-31

1. David's initial movements chs. 21-22

2. Saul's pursuit of David ch. 23

3. David's goodness to two fools ch. 24-26

4. The end of Saul's reign 27-31

(Continued in notes on 2 Samuel)

Constable: 1 Samuel

1 Samuel

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL;

otherwise called,

THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This and the following Book are called by the Hebrews, the Books of Samuel, because they contain the history of Samuel, and of the two kings, Saul and David, whom he anointed. They are more commonly named by the Fathers, the First and Second Book of Kings. As to the writer of them, it is the common opinion that Samuel composed the first book, as far as the twenty-fifth chapter; and that the prophets Nathan and Gad finished the first and wrote the second book. See 1 Paralipomenon, alias 1 Chronicles, xxix. 19. (Challoner) --- The authors of the Third and Fourth Books of Kings were also prophets, but we know not exactly their names. These works have nevertheless been always esteemed authentic (Haydock) and canonical. (Worthington) --- Ven. Bede takes occasion to observe, from the Books of Kings (or as the Septuagint read, "of kingdoms;" Haydock) being placed after that of Judges, that the everlasting kingdom of Christ will succeed the general judgment. The translation of the priesthood and of the regal dignity, recorded in these books, denote also that Christ would united both in his own person; as the two wives of Eleana intimated, that both Jews and Gentiles would acknowledge the same Lord. (St. Jerome; St. Augustine; &c.) --- The transactions of Heli, Samuel and Saul, and the persecutions which David sustained from the latter, form the subject of the first book, (Haydock) during the space of 100 years. All the four books carry down the sacred history near 600 years, from the year of the world 2849 till the transmigration of Juda, in the year 3420. (Calmet) (Usher)

Gill: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 SAMUEL

This book, in the Hebrew copies, is commonly called Samuel, or the Book of Samuel; in the Syriac version, the Book of Samuel the Prophet; and in the Arabic version, the Book of Samuel the Prophet, which is the First Book of the Kings; and the Septuagint version, the Book of the Kingdom: it has the name of Samuel, because it contains an history of his life and times; and the Jews say ^a it was written by him; and as it may well enough be thought to be, to the end of the twenty fourth chapter; and the rest might be written by Nathan and Gad, as may he gathered from 1Ch 29:29 as also the following book that bears his name; and both may be called the Books of Kings, because they give an account of the rise of the kings in Israel, and of the two first of them; though some think they were written by Jeremiah, as Abarbinel; and others ascribe them to Ezra: however, there is no doubt to be made of it that this book was written by divine inspiration, when we consider the series of its history, its connection and harmony with other parts of Scripture; the several things borrowed from it, or alluded to in the book of Psalms, particularly what is observed in Psa 113:7, seems to be taken out of 1Sa 2:8, and the sanction which the Lord gives to it, by referring to a fact in it, whereby he stopped the mouths of the Scribes and Pharisees cavilling at his disciples, Mat 12:3, compared with 1Sa 21:3, yea, even, as Huetius ^b observes, some Heathen writers have by their testimonies confirmed some passages in these books, which they seem to have been acquainted with, as Nicolaus of Damascus ^c, and Eupolemus ^d; it contains an history of the government of Eli, and of the birth of Samuel, and his education under him; of the succession of Samuel in it, and the resignation of it to Saul, when he was chosen king; of his administration of his office, and of things done in the time of it, both before and after his rejection, and of the persecution of David by Saul, and is concluded with his death.

Gill: 1 Samuel 28 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 28

The Philistines gathering together, to fight with Israel, Saul trembled at it, not being able to get any answer from the Lord about it in any way whatever, 1Sa 28:1; upon which he applies to a woman that had a familiar spirit to bring him up Samuel, which she did, 1Sa 28:7; and what passed between Saul and Samuel, or at least the apparition in his form, is recorded, 1Sa 28:15; which so struck him, as to make him strengthless, and so melancholy, that he refused to eat until persuaded, or rather compelled, by the woman and his servants, 1Sa 28:20.