Day 76 – 1 Samuel 28:12-15
Scripture Review
1 Samuel 28:12-15
"And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul." (1 Samuel 28:12)
The woman's scream is one of the strongest details in the whole scene. She is not acting like a cool professional running a little night business out of Endor. She "cried with a loud voice." That is terror, she had not recognized Saul before, and that the vision itself seems to be what suddenly exposed him to her. Whatever she expected, this was not ordinary for her trade. The cry sounds like somebody who expected tricks and got something she could not manage.
Saul's disguise comes apart. He had changed clothes, slipped out by night, and tried to hide himself like Adam behind the trees. But once Samuel is seen, the witch turns on him at once, "thou art Saul." The king who once drove such women out of the land now stands exposed in one of their houses. His hypocrisy gets uncovered almost as fast as his face does. He does not fall all at once like a felled oak. He rots inward.
"And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth." (1 Samuel 28:13)
Saul tries to steady the women, "Be not afraid." The king is trying to calm the witch because he needs information more than he needs dignity. A few chapters ago he was still clutching remnants of royal majesty.
The woman answers, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth." points to a supernatural or otherworldly being rather than several separate figures. She presses us toward taking the appearance as Samuel indeed. When the text is spooky, some men try to out spook it, others try to iron it flat. Better to let it be what it is. Saul is fishing in forbidden waters, and the answer that rises terrifies the fisherman's guide.
"And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself." (1 Samuel 28:14)
Now I see the identifying marks, "An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle." The mantle is likely the prophet's garb and points back to 1 Samuel 15:27. The prophet who once had his mantle seized by Saul in the scene of the kingdom's tearing away is now recognized by that same sort of garment. Saul once grabbed the robe, now he drops before the man who wore it.
The verse says, "Saul perceived that it was Samuel." Suggests that Samuel may at first have been visible only to the woman, but the subsequent bowing and exchange indicate that Saul then also has the figure before him. No matter how you look at the scene, you understand the king recognizes the prophet. And when he does, he does what he had so often failed to do while Samuel lived, he bows. Too late obedience is one of the saddest things in Scripture. He who would not truly humble himself before God ends up humiliated before judgment. Not all brokenness is repentance. Some of it is simply collapse.
"And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do." (1 Samuel 28:15)
Samuel's opening word is not comfort. It is rebuke. "Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?" Samuel is speaking of being disturbed from his rest in Sheol, and that even though he comes as God's messenger, Saul's sin is the moving cause of this unnatural mission. Samuel is not appearing because Saul has found a clever loophole. Saul's sin has dragged him to this dreadful moment, and even here the prophet comes not as counselor for hire but as God's unwelcome mouthpiece.
Saul says, "I am sore distressed" and "God is departed from me, and answereth me no more." That is the whole tragedy of Saul in one breath. He knows the truth. He is not confused about the central issue. The Philistines are frightening, yes. But the real horror is that God is gone from him. He went from ignoring God to disobeying God, from disobeying God to fighting God, and finally to trafficking with the devil.