The Witch of Endor, 1-25

As Woodhouse observes, we find Saul in this chapter in a state of hopelessness.  This is analogous to the state of Gentiles, who, whether they feel it or not, have no hope and are without God in the world (Eph 2:12).

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” 28:2 David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard from now on.”

According to 1 Sam 27:4, Saul knew that David had joined the Philistines.

“You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle” – It seems (according to Woodhouse) that David had overplayed his hand.  In gaining the trust of Achish, David is now expected to join him in attacking his own people.

“You will come to know what your servant can do!” – This is probably deliberately ambiguous, given David’s dilemma.  David’s ‘OK, watch what I do’ is taken as a ‘Yes’ by Achish.

“I will make you my bodyguard from now on” – Showing the complete (and gullible) trust that Achish is willing to put in David.  This trust was not shared, however, by the other Philistine leaders, and so David was not allowed to fight for them (1 Sam 29:1-11).

As Woodhouse remarks, a bodyguard is, lit. ‘one who guards the head’.  There is deep irony, then, given what happened to another Philistine’s head (1 Sam 17:51,54)!

28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums and magicians from the land. 28:4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 28:5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. 28:6 So Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him—not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets. 28:7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

Verse 2 has left the reader with a cliffhanger.  What will happen to David?  The narrator suddenly turns to Saul.  And this is all the more curious, since the events of 29:1-11 occur before those of the rest of ch. 28.  (This is according to Davis, who concludes this from the geographical notes in 28:4 and 29:1).

As Davis notes, the narrator begins with three pieces of background information: (a) Samuel’s death; (b) Saul’s removal of the mediums and magic-workers from the land; and (c) the imminent threat posed by the Philistine army.

If the previous chapter has documented David’s rise, the present passage records Saul’s further descent towards total loss and failure.  The key outcome is, while seeking illicit guidance on whether he should fight the Philistines of not, he is told of his own imminent death.

Samuel had died – The text emphasises this:

‘The repeated mention of Samuel’s death and burial (cf. 1 Sam. 25:1) shows Saul deprived of the great prophet’s guidance, which in any case he had earlier disregarded.’ (Baldwin)

Saul had removed the mediums and magicians from the land – This statement is significant because it shows that what Saul is about to do violates his own edict.  It also shows, once again, that he was a man capable of noble intentions but so often incapable of seeing them through.

So Saul knew that such practices were utterly forbidden:

‘This note establishes Saul’s clear understanding that it was forbidden for Israelites to consult these individuals, a fact necessary for understanding the severity and speed of the punishment meted out to him.’ (Bergen)

Matthew Henry conjectures:

‘Perhaps when Saul was himself troubled with an evil spirit he suspected that he was bewitched, and, for that reason, cut off all that had familiar spirits.’

Matthew Henry again:

‘Many seem zealous against sin, when they themselves are any way hurt by it (they will inform against swearers if they swear at them, or against drunkards if in their drink they abuse them), who otherwise have no concern for the glory of God, nor any dislike of sin as sin. However it was commendable in Saul thus to use his power for the terror and restraint of these evil-doers. Note, Many seem enemies to sin in others, while they indulge it in themselves. Saul will drive the devil out of his kingdom, and yet harbour him in his heart, by envy and malice.’

The Philistines were camped at Shumen, located towards the north of Israelite territory but south of Galilee.  Evidently, their strategy was to fight on level ground, in order to make best use of their chariots, to control the trade route that ran through the area, and to cut off Saul’s northernmost tribes, in Galilee.

Saul left Israel vulnerable and unprotected:

‘The land of Israel, it seems, was ill-guarded, when the Philistines could march their army into the very heart of the country. Saul, while he pursued David, left his people naked and exposed.’ (MHC)

When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified – His son Jonathan, on the other hand, knew that with the Lord’s help a battle against few or many could be won (1 Sam 14:6)

Such terror would have been unneccessary if he had stayed close to God:

‘Had he kept close to God, he needed not have been afraid at the sight of an army of Philistines; but now that he had provoked God to forsake him his interest failed, his armies dwindled and looked mean, and, which was worse, his spirits failed him, his heart sunk within him, a guilty conscience made him tremble at the shaking of a leaf. Now he remembered the guilty blood of the Amalekites which he had spared, and the innocent blood of the priests which he had spilt. His sins were set in order before his eyes, which put him into confusion, embarrassed all his counsels, robbed him of all his courage, and produced in him a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.’ (MHC)

Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him—not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets – There was, for Saul, a famine of the word of God.  He had deprived himself of the acceptable methods of determining God’s will.

According to 1 Chron 10:14, Saul died precisely because he ‘did not inquire of the Lord’.  That is, he received no guidance from the Lord.  Youngblood explains that

‘although 1 Chronicles 10:14 states that Saul “did not inquire” of the Lord, a different verb (drš) is used. In addition, “it may be correctly remarked that Saul’s attempts at inquiry were of so unworthy a nature that it would be an abuse of language to speak of him as really ‘inquiring of Jehovah’ ”’ (Quoting Haley).’

Not by dreams – there was no personal message from God.  His own sins had put him at too much of a distance from the Lord to whom he had given such scant regard.

This method of guidance would involve ‘incubation rituals in which the inquirer sleeps within a sanctuary or near a sacred object in order to receive a dream from a god.’ (IVPBBCOT)

Nor by Urim – the priestly oracle, Ex 28:30; Num 27:21.  But Saul had killed off the priests, 1 Sam 22:17-19.  The one remaining priest, who retained the ephod, had fled to David.

It would seem that the Urim and Thummim were objects that were used to provide yes-or-no answers.  Perhaps the user relied upon them giving the same answer multiple times.  If so, this evidently did not work for Saul.

Nor by the prophets – Samuel, of course, was dead.  Although he had founded a school of prophets, 1 Sam 19:20, their support had been lost when Samuel declared that Saul’s kingship was over.  It is unlikely that any true prophet was accompanying Saul at this time.

The oft-repeated claim that ‘God always answers prayer (by saying, “Yes”, “No” or “Wait”) is not supported by Saul’s experience here.  See also 1 Sam 8:18; 14:37.

Baldwin remarks that Saul

‘had already received the guidance that was appropriate in his circumstances. No amount of further requesting could change the information he had already been given.’

‘Why didn’t the Lord answer Saul’s plea for help?’

‘The Bible teaches that people who consistently reject God’s leadership in their lives, and refuse to follow the guidance he has already provided, should not expect him to deliver them from trouble resulting from their poor choices (Job 27:9; 35:12; Pr 1:23–28; Is 1:15; Jr 11:11; 14:12; Ezk 8:18; Mc 3:4; Zech 7:13; Jms 4:3). Saul had consistently disobeyed God (1 Sam 13:13–14; 15:11–23), even going so far as to kill the Lord’s priests (22:17–19). He had created vast problems for himself and his nation. The Lord was not going to promise the king supernatural deliverance from those problems, even though Saul earnestly sought his help. Instead, God would use the Philistines as the instrument of judgment against Saul.’ (The Apologetics Study Bible For Students)

‘When God does not answer by any of the means he has himself designated (28:6, 15), this does not constitute warrant for defiance of God, but for repentance, perseverance, and patience. There is something dismally pathetic about seeking God’s counsel while happily taking action that God himself has prohibited.’ (Carson, For The Love Of God, Vol 1)

Here in this chapter

‘we find the culmination of Saul’s self-destruction. When he disobeyed God by failing to wipe out the Amalekites (chap. 15), he sealed his fate and became God’s enemy (28:16–19). From that time forward until 28:6, there is no record of Saul’s consulting the Lord; he never even had another audience with Samuel during the prophet’s lifetime (15:35). Neither did he receive divine revelation, except for the occasion when God overwhelmed him with his Spirit and turned him into a prophet for a day in order to protect David (19:23–24). Saul eventually killed the Lord’s priests at Nob, apparently with no concern that he was cutting himself off from the divine revelation they could provide (cf. 22:10, 13, 15). Indeed, the one priest who did escape, Abiathar, later used an ephod to mediate divine revelation on David’s behalf (23:9–12; 30:7–8). When fearful Saul finally does inquire of the Lord, it is quite appropriate that the Lord refuses to answer (28:6).’ (Chisholm)

Ezekiel 14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me?”

“Find me a woman who is a medium” – ‘He wrongly turned to what he had rightly prohibited’ (Davis)

It is unclear why Saul specified a ‘woman’: perhaps most mediums were female in those times, or perhaps he felt less threatened by one.

Saul is only interested in saving his own skin:

‘When God remains silent…instead of asking what in his life may have caused this, Saul turns to a medium, specifically a necromancer (28:7). Saul is not concerned with repentance or a relationship with God, but only with rescue.’ (Gospel Transformation Bible)

Saul’s ‘decision to seek help from a medium is a measure of his moral exhaustion, his despairing faith, his failed life.’ (Brueggemann)

‘In doing [this], he was both a deliberate sinner and a hypocrite. The fact that some of his servants knew where a spirit medium lived suggests that Saul’s clean-up campaign wasn’t too thorough and that not all of his officers agreed with him. Some of them knew a medium Saul had overlooked.’ (Wiersbe)

It is a sobering thought that holy decisions (Lev 19:31; 20:6; Deut 18:10–11) may come to be regretted by someone who is becoming increasingly mired in sinful disobedience.

‘The OT laws attack the practice of consulting the dead (necromancy) (see Lv. 19:31; Dt. 18:9–14) and Saul had upheld such laws. It was a sign of his desperation that he now consulted a medium, and that to do so he had to go as far north as Endor, a journey to the far side of the Philistine camp.’ (Payne, NBC)

‘The existence of mediums in Israel further indicates the syncretism that plagued Israelite religion during the nation’s history. Necromancy of this type was still flourishing in the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs. 21:6).’ (Evans, UBCS)

‘When God answered him not, if he had humbled himself by repentance and persevered in seeking God, who knows but that at length he might have been entreated for him? but, since he can discern no comfort either from heaven or earth (Isa. 8:21, 22), he resolves to knock at the gates of hell, and to see if any there will befriend him and give him advice’ (MHC)

Endor was a few miles away, and dangerously close to where the Philistines were camped.  Josh. 17:11f attests to a persistent Canaanite presence there.

28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.”

Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing – It is ironic that the still-living king makes himself unrecognisable in his ‘mufti’, but the dead Samuel is instantly recognised, appearing in his familiar robe (v14)!

‘The absence of royal clothing and jewelry insulated him from scrutiny by Philistine soldiers patrolling the roads in the area and shielded his true identity from the medium. In order to reduce the journey’s risks even further, Saul waited until after the sun had set to begin the trip, and he was accompanied by two bodyguards.’ (Bergen)

Saul came ‘furtively, like a criminal’. (Baldwin)

Baldwin comments:

‘Despite the finality of Saul’s last confrontation with Samuel (1 Sam. 15:10–35), Saul still longed for the word of the Lord which he had received through the prophet who first anointed him and proclaimed him king. He must have hoped that Samuel would somehow reverse the judgment which he had pronounced, in much the same way as some of our contemporaries refuse to take seriously the dark side of the word of God.’

They came to the woman at night – Probably to evade notice.  But it is also likely that necromancers tended to do their work at night.

As Youngblood notes:

‘Saul’s earlier rebellion against the Lord had been so heinous that Samuel had compared it to the “sin of divination” (1 Sam 15:23). Nevertheless, Saul is now commanding a diviner, a necromancer, to “bring up” for him (v. 8; cf. vv. 11, 13, 15) one who dwells in the “realm of death below” (Dt 32:22)’

The ritual pit was a place from which the spirits of the departed could be magically summoned.

‘There is no indication in these rituals that the practitioner was possessed by the spirit or that the spirit spoke through her, and so she was not a medium in the modern sense.’ (IVPBBCOT)

Greek, Mesopotamian and (especially) Hittite literature supplies the following details:

‘(1) done at night, (2) after the spot is divined a pit is dug with a special tool, (3) a food offering (bread, oil, honey) or the blood of a sacrificial animal is placed in the pit to attract spirits, (4) an invocation ritual, including the spirit’s name, is chanted, and (5) the pit is covered to prevent spirits from escaping after the ritual is concluded. Both practitioner and client had roles to play in the procedure. The spirits who emerged were in human form and generally were able to communicate directly with the client. In Mesopotamian necromancy incantations, only the practitioner could see the spirit. This was accomplished through ritual ointments smeared on the face.’ (IVPBBCOT)

28:9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed the mediums and magicians from the land! Why are you trapping me so you can put me to death?” 28:10 But Saul swore an oath to her by the LORD, “As surely as the LORD lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!” 28:11 The woman replied, “Who is it that I should bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up for me Samuel.”

“You are aware of what Saul has done” – ‘Her words should have struck a cord of conscience with Saul. His own policy was testimony to the Law of God, which he was now flagrantly breaking.’ (Woodhouse)

‘Providence ordered it so that Saul should be told to his face of his edict against witches, at this very time when he was consulting one, for the greater aggravation of his sin.’ (MHC)

‘She considered what Saul had done, not what God had done, against such practices, and feared a snare laid for her life more than a snare laid for her soul. It is common for sinners to be more afraid of punishment from men than of God’s righteous judgment.’ (MHC)

Saul solemnly swears that “as surely as the Lord lives” she will be safe.  He swears by the God whose command he is just then defying.  ‘For all his degeneration Saul is orthodox to the last’ (Davis).  It is awful hypocrisy.  Such is Saul’s last recorded mention of the name of the Lord.

‘Saul swears, As the Lord lives, that she will be safe, while he himself endeavours to reverse the word of the same living Lord, pronounced against himself.’ (Baldwin)

Bergen puts it bluntly:

‘Saul’s oath invoked the Lord to grant immunity to one who broke the Lord’s command—it turned God against himself. Such an oath was not only foolish but actually blasphemous.’

Woodhouse quotes Alter:

‘The irony of Saul’s doing this in a negotiation with a conjurer of spirits is vividly caught by the Midrash: “Whom did Saul resemble at that moment? A woman who is with her lover and swears by the life of her husband. ”’

“Bring up for me Samuel” – One of many ironies in this passage is that Saul wishes to consult the dead Samuel, to whom he paid scant regard while still living.

What a shock! –

‘It seems likely that the last person a woman such as this would expect anyone to ask her to conjure up would be the great prophet of the Lord who had forbade inquiring of the dead.’ (Woodhouse)

‘Many that despise and persecute God’s saints and ministers when they are living would be glad to have them again when they are gone.’ (MHC)

28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 28:13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god coming up from the ground!” 28:14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”

There is no description of any techniques or formulae that the woman might have used.  As Matthew Henry observes, sometimes, to describe sin is to teach people how to sin.

Stephen L. Cook seems to think that an appeal to the teraphim was involved; but this conjecture would make better sense if the event took place in Saul’s home, not elsewhere.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly – We are not told what, if anything, the woman did to ‘bring up Samuel’.  But it seems clear from her shocked response that she was not expecting events to unfold like this.  She shows every sign of shock and surprise.

Her terror was perfectly understandable:

‘The woman now found herself in the presence of the king who had enforced the Law of God against her practices and the prophet who was God’s mouthpiece. Her terror was completely understandable.’ (Woodhouse)

“Don’t be afraid!” – More irony:

‘Saul, previously afraid because of the Philistine threat (v. 5) and soon to be afraid “because of Samuel’s words” (v. 20), tells the necromancer not to be afraid (v. 13).’ (Youngblood)

“What have you seen?” – We cannot tell how or why it is that the woman could see Samuel, but not Saul.  But he will hear him soon enough.

“I have seen one like a god coming up from the ground!” – lit. ‘I saw gods arising from the earth’.  The word is elohim, variously translated here ‘a spirit’, ‘a ghost’, and so on.  But the woman’s language is also consistent with the pagan view that a dead person became a ‘god’.  Perhaps the apparition came up from a pit in the ground – dug for the very purpose of necromancy (Bergen).

She speaks like a heathen:

‘She speaks the language of the heathen, who had their infernal deities and had them in veneration.’ (MHC)

She sees “an old man…wrapped in a robe!” – Clothing was often a status marker in the ancient world.  This description seems vague enough, but is suggestive of the prophetic robe, the tearing of which had symbolic importance the last time the two men met (1 Sam 15:27f).

It would seem that the woman saw Samuel, but did not hear him; whereas Saul heard him but did not see him.

Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down. 28:15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me—not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.”

“Why have you disturbed me?” – This suggests that the deceased prophet had been enjoying a post-mortem life of restfulness.  For other OT examples of death being likened to sleep, see see Job 3:13; 14:12; Ps 13:3; 90:5; Jer 51:39, 57.

‘Samuel’s complaint that he has been disturbed ties in with what we know of the early understanding of the fate of the dead. There was no real belief in ongoing life, but because nonexistence was incomprehensible they were seen as inhabiting the underworld, Sheol, in a kind of shadowy nonlife comparable to sleep.’ (Evans, UBCS)

“God has turned away from me” – and so Saul could scarcely have expected to hear God speak through this medium.  But a desperate and frightened man will turn anywhere for some kind of reassurance.

“I am terribly troubled!” – Saul’s self-absorption is obvious: note the repeated reference to himself.

Cf. 2 Sam 24:17 – ‘When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”‘

“I have called on you to tell me what I should do” – Saul turns to ‘the most insightful man he had ever known’ (Bergen).

He wants to be told what to do; but he is only told what he has done and what will be done to him. (MHC)

What Saul really needed was not God’s prophet, but God himself:

‘If anything, Saul’s quest should have been to face Yahweh, not to seek Samuel. His need was not for information but communion, not so much to prepare for battle but to recover God’s presence. Saul, it seems, wanted the results of God’s favor more than he wanted God’s favor.’ (Davis)

But it is too late:

‘The pathos of the scene is intense. It was too late. Out of the desperation of the Philistine threat and the Lord’s silence Saul had taken this extraordinary step of trying to get the dead Samuel to tell him what to do. It is striking that he failed to mention either his own disobedience, which lay behind his present predicament, or his nemesis, David, whose presence in Saul’s world had been his undoing. These two omissions would soon be rectified by Samuel.’ (Woodhouse)

‘The contradiction involved in calling up from the dead Samuel, the great prophet of God, when God had turned away from Saul did not seem to bother the king.’ (Woodhouse)

28:16 Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the LORD has turned away from you and has become your enemy? 28:17 The LORD has done exactly as I prophesied! The LORD has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David! 28:18 Since you did not obey the LORD and did not carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this thing to you today. 28:19 The LORD will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines! Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!”

Saul’s desperation is misdirected (Davis).  There is no new and reassuring message from Samuel.

Matthew Henry (who thinks that this appearance was a demonic deception, comments:

‘Had it been the true Samuel, when Saul desired to be told what he should do he would have told him to repent and make his peace with God, and recall David from his banishment, and would then have told him that he might hope in this way to find mercy with God; but, instead of that, he represents his case as helpless and hopeless, serving him as he did Judas, to whom he was first a tempter and then a tormentor, persuading him first to sell his master and then to hang himself.’

But this is to neglect the fact that Saul’s fate had already been sealed by the words of Samuel.

“Why are you asking me?” – In life (1 Sam 15:22-25) Samuel had given stern warnings to Saul, but had been met with a measure of regret, but not heartfelt repentance.  Saul is only compounding his predicament by attempting what he knew to be forbidden by the Lord.

“The LORD has done exactly as I prophesied! The LORD has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David!” – What Saul has been told long ago is about to become a terrible reality.  In fact, Samuel’s language to Saul in 1 Sam 15:28 is repeated verbatim; only now, for the first time, his successor is actually named.

Whereas Saul’s words to Samuel is full of self-reference (seven references to ‘I’ or ‘me’), Samuel’s response focuses on the Lord (mentioned seven times).

“You did not obey the LORD” – lit. ‘You did not listen to the Lord.’  We have already read the solemn verdict that the Lord has rejected Saul because Saul rejected the Lord; now it is clear that the Lord will not hear Saul’s cries because Saul would not listen to the Lord.

Not prudent, but rebellious:

‘In chapter 15 he tailored Yahweh’s command to his own and the people’s preferences. Saul would have called it accommodation; Samuel called it rebellion. Saul thought it prudence; Samuel labeled it stubbornness. Perhaps Saul liked to think he had only reinterpreted Yahweh’s word; Samuel charged that he had simply rejected Yahweh’s word (see 1 Sam 15:22–23). “You did not listen.” That is the explanation for Yahweh’s absence.’ (Davis)

Davis concludes:

‘If you despise God’s word he will take it from you. If you persistently refuse to obey God’s speech you will endure God’s silence. How crucial then are one’s first responses to the gospel, to the initial call to enter the kingdom of God.’

The only news comes in v19, and it carries no reassurance for Saul:

“Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me” – Saul would be dead, by his own hand, less than 24 hours later.

What does it mean for them to ‘be with’ Samuel?  ‘Sheol’, in the OT, was the place of the dead, and a distinction was not made between the righteous and the unrighteous.

These are the last recorded words of Samuel.

“The LORD will also hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!” – Saul had been appointed precisely to save the Lord’s people from the hand of the Philistines (1 Sam 9:16).  Now, both he and they were about to be delivered into the hands of their enemies.

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. 28:21 When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. 28:22 Now it’s your turn to listen to your servant! Let me set before you a bit of bread so that you can eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”

Saul…was very afraid because of Samuel’s words – Saul sought Samuel’s guidance because of his fear of the Philistines.  But now he is, if anything, even more afraid.  He has visited the medium as a last resort.  But the hopelessness of his case has not been relieved.

Saul had not eaten anything all that day and night – He had a foolish habit of fasting before and during battles (1 Sam 14:28).  This coupled with the journey of six miles which he had just undertaken, together with his present stress levels, had left him exhausted.

The woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was – Apparently, she had left (in terror?) Saul alone with Samuel.  Now she returns, to find Saul in obvious terror himself.

“Let me set before you a bit of bread” – ‘Though she could not save him from his fate, she could give him temporary help and comfort to strengthen his fainting spirits.’ (Baldwin)

‘All this was the outcome of Saul’s willingness to compromise with evil in order to escape the word of the Lord. It is hard to envisage a more terrible situation in which to find oneself.’ (Baldwin)

28:23 But he refused, saying, “I won’t eat!” Both his servants and the woman urged him to eat, so he gave in. He got up from the ground and sat down on the bed. 28:24 Now the woman had a well-fed calf at her home that she quickly slaughtered. Taking some flour, she kneaded bread and baked it without leaven. 28:25 She brought it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and left that same night.

He refused, saying, “I won’t eat” – Suggesting again that he had vowed to fast in the run-up to the inevitable battle with the Philistines.

The woman had a well-fed calf at her home – According to Youngblood, such an animal was probably stabled within the house.

‘Any meal that included meat was special in ancient Israel, but one that included meat from a stall-fed animal was truly exceptional—a feast “fit for a king” (cf. Amos 6:4).’ (Bergen)

‘Like a condemned prisoner on death row dining on steak and champagne the night before his execution, Saul eats the fatted calf.’ (Harper’s Bible Commentary)

‘It was a meal fit for a king. The trouble was, it was eaten by a man not fit to be king.’ (Woodhouse)

Baldwin describes this midnight feast:

‘In the middle of the night, in the dwelling of a woman who consulted the dead, Saul got up from the earth floor, sat on the bed, and watched all the familiar homely processes of preparing a meal, from the killing of the calf to the kneading of dough for baking (cf. Gen. 18:6–8). If the meal and its preparation were conducive to a feeling of normality (for it was a dinner fit for a king), that in itself was sinister, because Saul was soon—in a matter of hours—to be king no longer.’

They arose and left that same night – and Saul goes to his own ruin:

‘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.’ (MHC)

1 Chron 10:13f draws a clear line from Saul’s behaviour as recorded in this chapter and his death in the next:

10:13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD and did not obey the LORD’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits. 10:14 He did not seek the LORD’s guidance, so the LORD killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.

Payne (NBC) summarises:

‘The intention of this story is to emphasize Saul’s hopelessness—and to show how low he had sunk, when even a criminal helped to comfort him. For the woman was a criminal, by Saul’s own laws.’

Looking back over Saul’s life, Baldwin comments:

‘He did not realize that there is in all valid human leadership the need to be subject to a higher authority, ultimately that of God himself, and that this is a relief rather than a humiliation.’

Baldwin again:

‘Even after his death, the prophet Samuel speaks. ‘Neither cavern nor tomb, neither space nor time, limits the effective power of God’s word …’, but Saul receives the very message he had already heard. In the end, he had to do what he would in any case have done—face the enemy. 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.’

Wiersbe concludes:

‘We can’t help but feel sorry for Saul, and yet at the same time, we must admit that he brought his plight on himself. Had he obeyed the Lord he wouldn’t have lost the kingdom, and had he stopped pursuing David and invested his time developing his army, he would have been better equipped to meet the Philistines at Jezreel. In spite of all the blessings God gave to Saul, and all the opportunities to grow spiritually, Saul was unprepared to lead, unprepared to fight, and unprepared to die.’