In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.”
Parallel Translations
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In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.”
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And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.
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And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their hosts together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David: 'Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me in the host, thou and thy men.'
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 28:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17:1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
- 1 Samuel 29:1-3 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek; and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish. Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years? I have found no fault in him since he fell away until today.”
- Judges 3:1-4 Now these are the nations which Yahweh left, to test Israel by them, even as many as had not known all the wars of Canaan; only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least those who knew nothing of it before: the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. They were left to test Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to Yahweh’s commandments, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.
- 1 Samuel 7:7 When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 13:5 The Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beth Aven.
- 1 Samuel 27:12 Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant forever.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Albeit it was a great grief to David to…
Albeit it was a great grief to David to fight against the people of God, yet such was his infirmity, he durst not deny him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 28:1 And it came to pass in those…
1Sa 28:1 And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass in those days.] When Saul’s sin was now grown ripe and ready for the sickle, and David as a weaned child was now fitted for the kingdom.
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Thou shalt go out with me to battle.] This struck cold to David’s good heart, who now began to repent him, doubtless, of gadding about Gath; but all too late.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The Philistines were encouraged by Samuel’s death, and Saul’s…
The Philistines were encouraged by Samuel’s death, and Saul’s degeneration, and David’s presence with Achish.
Thou shalt go out with me to battle: this he saith, partly to try his sincerity; and partly in confidence of David’s fidelity.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Here is, I. The design of the Philistines against…
Here is, I. The design of the Philistines against Israel. They resolved to fight them, Sa1 28:1. If the Israelites had not forsaken God, there would have been no Philistines remaining to molest them; if Saul had not forsaken him, they would by this time have been put out of all danger by them. The Philistines took an opportunity to make this attempt when they had David among them, whom they feared more than Saul and all his forces.
II. The expectation Achish had of assistance from David in this war, and the encouragement David gave him to expect it: "Thou shalt go with me to battle," says Achish. "If I protect thee, I may demand service from thee;" and he will think himself happy if he may have such a man as David on his side, who prospered whithersoever he went. David gave him an ambiguous answer: "We will see what will be done; it will be time enough to talk of that hereafter; but surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do" (Sa1 28:2), that is, "I will consider in what post I may be best able to serve thee, if thou wilt but give me leave to choose it." Thus he keeps himself free from a promise to serve him and yet keeps up his expectation of it; for Achish took it in no other sense than as an engagement to assist him, and promised him, thereupon, that he would make him captain of the guards, protector, or prime-minister of state.
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III. The drawing of the armies, on both sides, into the field (Sa1 28:4): The Philistines pitched in Shunem, which was in the tribe of Issachar, a great way north from their country. 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. On some of the adjacent mountains of Gilboa Saul mustered his forces, and prepared to engage the Philistines, which he had little heart to do now that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him.
IV. The terror Saul was in, and the loss he was at, upon this occasion: He saw the host of the Philistines, and by his own view of them, and the intelligence his spies brought him, he perceived they were more numerous, better armed, and in better heart, than his own were, which made him afraid, so that his heart greatly trembled, Sa1 28:5. 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. Note, Troubles are terrors to the children of disobedience. In this distress Saul enquired of the Lord, Sa1 28:6. Need drives those to God who in the day of their prosperity slighted his oracles and altars. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, Isa 26:16. Did ever any seek the Lord and not find him? Yes, Saul did; the Lord answered him not, took no notice either of his petitions or of his enquiries; gave him no directions what to do, nor any encouragement to hope that he would be with him. Should he be enquired of at all by such a one as Saul? Eze 14:3. No, he could not expect an answer of peace, for, 1. He enquired in such a manner that it was as if he had not enquired at all. Therefore it is said (Ch1 10:14), He enquired not of the Lord; for he did it faintly and coldly, and with a secret design, if God did not answer him, to consult the devil. He did not enquire in faith, but with a double unstable mind. 2. He enquired of the Lord when it was too late, when the days of his probation were over and he was finally rejected. Seek the Lord while he may be found, for there is a time when he will not be found. 3. He had forfeited the benefit of all the methods of enquiry. Could he that hated and persecuted Samuel and David, who were both prophets, expect to be answered by prophets? Could he that had slain the high priest, expect to be answered by Urim? Or could he that had sinned away the Spirit of grace, expect to be answered by dreams? No. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
V. The mention of some things that had happened a good while ago, to introduce the following story, Sa1 28:3. 1. The death of Samuel. Samuel was dead, which made the Philistines the more bold and Saul the more afraid; for, had Samuel been alive, Saul probably thought that his presence and countenance, his good advice and good prayers, would have availed him in his distress. 2. Saul's edict against witchcraft. He had put the laws in execution against those that had familiar spirits, who must not be suffered to live, Exo 22:18. Some think that he did this in the beginning of his reign, while he was under Samuel's influence; others think that it was lately done, for it is spoken of here (Sa1 28:9) as a late edict. 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. 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it came to pass in those days,.... That…
And it came to pass in those days,.... That David was in the country of the Philistines:
that the Philistines gathered their armies together: out of their five principalities or lordships:
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for warfare to fight with Israel; with whom they were continually at war, and though sometimes there was a cessation of arms, yet never any settled peace; and the Philistines took every opportunity and advantage against them, as they now did; when David was among them, and so had nothing to fear from him, but rather expected his assistance; and Samuel was dead, and Saul in a frenzy:
and Achish said unto David: who seems to have been at the head of the combined armies of the Philistines:
know thou assuredly that thou shall go with me to battle, thou and thy men; against Israel; which was a trying thing to David, and whereby he was like to be drawn into a dilemma; either to fight against his country, which he could not do conscientiously; or be guilty of ingratitude to Achish, and incur his displeasure, and be liable to be turned out of his country, or treated in a worse manner, even he and his men, to be seized on and cut to pieces by the forces of the Philistines, should he refuse.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The conference between Achish and David, ver. 1-2. The…
The conference between Achish and David, ver. 1-2. The preparation of the Philistines, and the distress of Saul, ver. 3-6. He applies to a woman which had a familiar spirit, to raise Samuel, ver. 7-11. Samuel appears, and foretells his defeat and death, ver. 12-19. Saul faints, and is with difficulty persuaded to take any sustenance, ver. 20-25.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The Philistines prepare to attack the Israelites, and Achish
CHAPTER XXVIII
The Philistines prepare to attack the Israelites, and Achish
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informs David that he shall accompany him to battle, 1, 2.
Saul, unable to obtain any answer from God, applies to a witch
at En-dor to bring up Samuel that he may converse with him on
the issue of the war, 3-11.
Samuel appears, 12-14.
He reproaches Saul with his misconduct, and informs him of his
approaching ruin, 15-19.
He is greatly distressed; but at the solicitations of the woman
and his own servants, he takes some food, and departs the same
night, 20-25.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII
Verse 1. The Philistines gathered their armies together] Sir Isaac Newton conjectures that the Philistines had got a great increase to their armies by vast numbers of men which Amasis had driven out of Egypt. This, with Samuel's death, and David's disgrace, were no inconsiderable motives to a new war, front which the Philistines had now every thing to hope.
Thou shalt go out with me to battle] This he said, being deceived by what David had told him.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 28:1. The Philistines gathered their armies together —…
1Sa 28:1. The Philistines gathered their armies together — Sir Isaac Newton judges that they were recruited about this time by vast numbers of men driven out of Egypt by Amasis. This probably was one reason why they resolved on a new war with Israel, to which, however, Samuel’s death and David’s disgrace were doubtless additional motives. Achish said to David, Thou shalt go out with me to battle — Achish formed this resolution in consequence of his knowledge of David’s merit, and the thorough confidence he had in his fidelity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Israel. God made use of the ill-will of the…
Israel. God made use of the ill-will of the Philistines to punish Saul, and to make way for David to the throne. (Salien) --- Each of the five lords brought their armies into the field, where they were united. Achis, placing the greatest confidence in David, requires his attendance. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Saul’s Downfall in War with the Philistines
FOURTH SECTION
Saul’s Downfall in War with the Philistines
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1 Samuel 28-31
I. David in the Philistine Expedition against Israel. Saul’s Visit to the Witch of Endor
1Sa_28:1-25
1And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies1 together for warfare,2 to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly that thou shalt go out with me to battle [in the army],1 thou and 2thy men. And David said to Achish, Surely [Therefore] thou3 shalt know what thy servant can [will] do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head4 for ever.
3Now [And] Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, even5 in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar 4spirits6 and the wizards7 out of the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, 5and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, Hebrews 6 was afraid and his heart greatly trembled. And when [om. when] Saul inquired of the Lord [Jehovah], [ins. and] the Lord [Jehovah] answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim8 nor by prophets.
7Then said Saul [And Saul said] unto his servants, Seek me a woman9 that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said 8unto him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he [om. he] went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit,10 and bring me him [him] up whom I shall 9name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land; wherefore, then, layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die. 10And Saul sware to her by the Lord [Jehovah], saying, As the Lord [Jehovah] 11liveth, there shall no punishment11 happen12 to thee for this thing. Then said the woman [And the woman said], Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
12And when [om. when] the woman saw Samuel, [ins. and] she cried with a loud voice, and the woman spake [said] to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? 13for13 thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid; for [om. for]14 what [ins. then] sawest [seest] thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods 14[see a god]15 ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of [is his form]? And she said, An old16 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.
15And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered [said], 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 [and] I have called17 thee that thou mayest make known 16unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel [And Samuel said], Wherefore, then, dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord [Jehovah] is departed from thee, and is become 17thine enemy?18 And the Lord [Jehovah] hath done to him19 [for himself] as he spake by me, for [and] the Lord [Jehovah] hath rent the kingdom out of 18thine hand and given it to thy neighbor, even to David. Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord [Jehovah], nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, 19therefore hath the Lord [Jehovah] done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover [And] the Lord [Jehovah] will also [om. also] deliver Israel [ins. also]20 with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me; the Lord [Jehovah] also [om. also] shall [will] deliver the host [camp]1 of Israel 20[ins. also] into the hand of the Philistines. Then [And] Saul fell straightway21 all along [his full length] on the earth, and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the 21day nor all the night. And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou 22spakest unto me. Now therefore [And now], I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, that thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way. But [And] he refused, 23and said, I will not eat. But [And] his servants, together with the woman, compelled22 him [his servants compelled him, and the woman also], and he hearkened unto their voice; so [and] he arose from the earth and sat upon23 the bed 24[bench]. And the woman had a fat [fatted]24 calf in the house; and she hasted and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread 25thereof; And she brought it before Saul and before his servants, and they did eat. Then [And] they rose up, and went away that night.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Sa_28:1-2. A new war of the Philistines against the Israelites. David is required by Achish to join the Philistine army with his band and take part in this war against his own people.—His indefinite and evasive answer.—In those days, namely, during David’s stay in Philistia; giving the chronological connection with the preceding, in order to continue the narrative of chap. 27.—The Philistines gathered their army, a general summons throughout Philistia to the extreme north, where a battle was afterwards fought in the region of Jezreel,—“a general war of all the Philistine princes against Israel, in which David, as Philistine vassal-prince, was obliged to take part” (Ewald). “In the army” (בַּמַּחֲנֶה), not “into the camp” (S. Schmid, de W.), [Eng. A. V. freely “to battle”]. In David’s answer the “thou shalt know” answers to Achish’s formal “know thou” [same word in Heb.]. Thus is explained the [emphatic] “thou” (אַתָּה), for which there is no need to read with Sept. and Vulg. “now” (עַתָּה, Then.). לָכֵן is not profecto (Cler.), [so Eng. A. V. “surely”], but = “accordingly, therefore,” “cum ita sit s. ita videbis” (Maur.). David gives not a definite, but an evasive answer, comp. 1Sa_29:8. By Achish’s demand, made in good faith, that he should go to battle against his people, David must have been thrown into a struggle of conscience, of which Achish had no suspicion. The latter therefore takes David’s ambiguous answer, which seemed to promise the action which he required, as a definite declaration, and accordingly names him confidingly “keeper of his head,” captain of his body-guard (Ew.). Here, as above, לָכֵן =“under such circumstances, therefore.” The rendering “I would name thee” (Cler., Dathe) is untenable by reason of the context, especially the “for ever.” That David actually went out with the Philistine army appears from 1Sa_29:2 sq. The narrative in 1Sa_29:1 sq. is the continuation of 1Sa_28:2. All between from 1Sa_28:3 is an episode, which (as appears especially from a comparison of 1Sa_28:4 with 1Sa_29:1) is an insertion from a separate source, and therefore is an independent narrative, which is not in necessary connection with the preceding and succeeding context.
1Sa_28:3. Introductory statement 1) of Samuel’s death, not from a second source, but here inserted by the redactor from 1Sa_25:1 to introduce what follows. The verbs are pluperfect in sense. And they had buried him at Ramah, namely or, that is, in his city. The ו [= and, namely] is explicative, as in 2Sa_13:20; Amo_3:11; Amo_4:10 (Ges. § 155, 1 a). Its omission in Sept., Vulg., Syr., is explained by the difficulty that it occasioned the translators. 2) Of Saul’s expulsion of the witches and soothsayers (long before this). Saul had put away, expelled the necromancers (הָאוֹבוֹת) and the wise men (הַיִּדְּענִֹים) [wizards], the soothsayers. On the various meanings of the word Ob [Eng. A. V. familiar spirit] see Böttcher, de inferis, I., pp. 101–108. Most moderns connect it with ob (אוֹנ), “leather bag,” which is found in the Plural in Job_32:19. We cannot, however, thence render the word with the Sept. “ventriloquist” (ἐγγαστρίμυθος), because, as Diestel (Herz., XVII., 482) remarks, the representation of soothsaying or sorcery as ventriloquism would destroy the appearance of the supernatural, and it cannot be shown that ventriloquists as such were accounted sorcerers. As the word in Isa_8:19; Isa_29:4 expresses a dull, hollow, groaning sound, “it is best to suppose a stem אוּב, the softened form of the Arab. [גּוּף] = “to be hollow,” and Ob is then the “hollow thing” (bag), and so “one who speaks hollow” (Diestel ubi sup.). In conjurations of the dead it is the dull, hollow, mysterious tone of the voice, which was personified and represented as a mysterious being, whether as the spirit of the departed speaking from the depth of the earth (Isa_29:9), or as the spirit dwelling in the conjuror, man or woman (Lev_19:31; Lev_20:6; Lev_20:27), and, finally, the necromancers or speaking soothsayers themselves were so called, as here and 2Ki_23:24. The “wise people” [wizards] (יִדְּענִֹים), always connected with the Oboth or necromancers, are those that deal in necromancy through sorcery and soothsaying; the simple expression in our [German] popular language, “wise woman” [so Eng. wizard—Tr.] rests on the same idea of a knowledge of what is concealed and future by mysterious means. In his passionate zeal for the Law, urged on by an unquiet conscience, Saul had driven the necromancers and soothsayers out of the land (Lev_19:31; Lev_20:27, comp. Deu_18:10 sq.), that he might thus show himself a zealous theocratic king and win God’s favor. This statement is appended to that of Samuel’s death as a superscription, as it were, to bring out the sharp contrast of the following narrative of Saul’s conduct.
1Sa_28:4-25. Saul and the witch of Endor.
1Sa_28:4. The camp of the Philistines was in Shunem, Jos_19:18, which signifies, according to Ges., “two resting-places” (= שׁוּנַיִם); according to Eusebius it was also called Shulem, which is confirmed by the present name, for it is the same place that is now called Solam or Sulem (Rob., III., 402 [Am. ed., ii., 324]), on the western declivity of little Hermon25 [Jebel Duhy], the home of Abishag (1Ki_1:3), and of the woman that often entertained Elisha, whose son he restored to life (2Ki_4:8-37; 2Ki_8:1; 2Ki_8:6). [Bib.-Com.: The Philistines either advanced along the seacoast, and then entered the valley of Jezreel from the west—the same route, only in the opposite direction, as that taken by the Midianites, who, coming to the valley of Jezreel from the Jordan, penetrated as far as Gaza (Jdg_6:4; Jdg_6:33)—or else they came by the present road right through Samaria, starting from Aphek.—Tr.] Only about four miles thence Saul had gathered the host of Israel, which was encamped on Gilboa, that is, the mountain range in the territory of Issachar, which traverses the south-eastern part of the plain of Jezreel from Zerin to the Jordan-valley, into which it sinks precipitously at Bethsan. There is now there a village called Jelbon (Rob. III. 404 [Am. ed., 2:316]). The two armies were therefore encamped on the two groups of mountains that enclosed the broad plain of Jezreel toward the east, or, more precisely, the south-east, between which stretched a valley-plain. From an elevation of about twelve hundred feet Saul could see the Philistine camp, which was only four miles distant.26
1Sa_28:5. The sight fills him with fear and great dread, because he had a bad conscience towards the Lord, and therefore could not be sure of His help, not merely because he saw that the Philistine army was so unexpectedly numerous (Cler.).
1Sa_28:6. Yet in his anxiety he had recourse to “inquiring of the Lord;” he wished thereby to learn what he was to do, and also the fate of himself and his army. But the Lord answered him not, the reason for which see in 1Sa_15:26, comp. 1Sa_14:37.—The threefold גַּם [also] puts in one line the three means of inquiry of the Lord (on the repetition of גַּם to connect things related or similar, “both … and” in pos. sentences, “neither … nor” in neg., see Ew., § 359): Dreams, Urim (and Thummim) and Prophets.27 The phrase “inquire in” (שָׁאַל בַּיֹ׳) is commonly used of inquiry by Urim and Thummim, with which the two other modes are here connected. The “dreams,” the first means of the revelation of the divine will, are not dreams by incubations at a holy place (Ew.), “to which nothing here or elsewhere points” (Then.), nor the dreams of those that receive the revelation, but the dreams of mediating persons, through whom the Lord was inquired of; these might be and were sometimes prophets, comp. Num_12:6 with Jer_23:25; Jer_23:32, and Deu_13:2 sq., where the false prophets with their lying dreams are opposed to the true—but might also be unprophetic persons, as in Joe_3:1. Here in our passage the persons who have revelations in dreams are distinguished from the “prophets.” In the order of arrangements of these three vehicles of revelation there is a progression from the less to the greater, since in the Old Testament a subordinate position is certainly assigned to the dream as the medium of divine influence on the inner life, which in sleep loses the power of self-manifestation and sinks into a state of the extremest passivity.—Urim is the abbreviation of Urim and Thummim (Exo_28:30; Num_27:21), which, as the high-priestly medium of inquiring the divine will, stands between the revealing-dreams and the prophetic testimony. But since the murder of the priests in Nob the external apparatus, the Ephod with the Urim and Thummim had been in David’s camp, 1Sa_22:20 sq., 1Sa_23:6, 1Sa_30:7; and nothing is anywhere said of another high-priest than Abiathar, who had fled to David. Thenius thence concludes that this section contradicts the narrative of chap. 23, since Saul could have gotten no answer at all through Urim and Thummim, because these could have been only in one place. But this is not certain; after the catastrophe at Nob Saul may well have had a new Ephod with Choshen [Breastplate] and Urim and Thummim prepared (Keil), and this is the more natural from Saul’s independent mode of procedure in matters of religious service, and the probability that in his heated theocratic zeal he did not suffer the public service at the tabernacle to cease after the murder of the priests. (It is possible also that a copy of the Ephod with the Urim and Thummim had been left behind when Abiathar fled.) As to the high-priest, apart from the possibility of inquiring by Urim and Thummim without him (it is done apparently without a priest by Saul, 1Sa_14:37, and David, 1Sa_23:9-12), it is to be observed that in the first years of David’s government the tabernacle is at Gibeon with Zadok, son of Ahitub of the line of Eleazar, as high-priest, which can be explained only by supposing that Saul had removed the tabernacle and the national worship thither from Nob, and that there were two high-priests, who, indeed, are frequently mentioned, 2Sa_8:17; 2Sa_15:24; 2Sa_15:29; 2Sa_15:35; 1Ch_15:11; 1Ch_18:16. We may thence conclude that Saul chose a high-priest from the high-priestly race of the line of Eleazar. It is further to be remarked that in Saul’s own words, 1Sa_28:15, this inquiry by Urim is not mentioned. In 1Ch_10:14 it is said that he was slain by the Lord because he did not inquire of the Lord. The contradiction is only apparent; he gave over the true, right inquiry, in that, his first questioning, which was not with upright, humble heart, having been unanswered, he betook himself to a necromancer, instead of penitently applying to God.—By the prophets. Intercourse between Saul and the prophets had doubtless been broken off since the beginning of Saul’s persecution of David (19), while it had continued between David and the prophets, as far as circumstances permitted (1Sa_22:5 sq.). But in his anxiety and despair Saul had now again turned to them for aid. Proof that application was made to prophets not only in great theocratical matters, but also in personal affairs, is found in 1Sa_9:6 sq.; 1Ki_14:1 sq.; 2Ki_1:3.—Saul received from God no answer more, except for judgment.
1Sa_28:7. Instead of humbling himself before God, he turns with hardened heart and bad conscience to the superstitious means, that the law of God had forbidden (Lev_19:31). Making accomplices of his servants, he gets information through them of a necromancer. (אֵשֶׁת, appositional construct. without Genitive relation, Ges. § 116, 5, see Jos_37:22; Jer_14:17.) “A woman mistress of Ob,” = “a woman who is in possession of an Ob,” that is, of a spirit (comp. Lev_20:27) by which the dead are conjured up, in order that they may disclose the present and the future. They inform him of such a one who dwells at Endor. Endor was on the northern declivity of Little Hermon, four and three-fourths Eng. miles south of Tabor, nine and a half miles south-east of Nazareth, about twelve miles north of Gilboa, so that Little Hermon lay between; there is still a place of the same name on the declivity of the mountain, Jebel Duhy. Rob. III. 1, 486 [Am. ed. ii. 360].—[Endor, = “fountain of the dwelling,” is still marked by a spring and numerous caves fit for the abode of witches (Thomson). For descriptions of the circumstances of this incident see Stanley’s Hist. of the Jewish Church, II. 30 sq., Sinai and Pal. p. 328–334 (Eng. ed.). Porter in Murray’s Handbook for Syria and Pal. ii. 355 sq., Thomson’s “Land and Book,” 2:161.—Tr.]
1Sa_28:8. Saul disguised himself, namely, by putting on other clothes so as not to be recognized by his royal dress and insignia, especially as he was treading a path forbidden by himself. At night he went thither, in order to escape the notice of his own people and of the enemy’s posts, which were not far off; he was accompanied by two men to show him the way and act as guard. A dreadful journey, a terrible night, both symbols of Saul’s condition, lost on the way of inner self-hardening and thorough self-darkening.—Saul’s request: Divine for me by necromancy [properly: “by the Ob, the spirit,” as in Eng. A. V.—Tr.]. The word “divine” (קָסַם) commonly occurs in a bad sense of the predictions of false prophets, comp. Deu_18:10; Deu_18:14; 2Ki_7:17; 1Sa_6:2 (in a good sense in Isa_3:2; Isaiah 28 Pro_16:10 [the subst.]). On its meaning see Hengst., Bileam, p. 9 sq. Anm.29
1Sa_28:9. The woman does not recognize Saul, as is plain from 1Sa_28:12. Her words show that Saul’s order for the extirpation of this superstition had been vigorously carried out. (Thenius: הַיִדְּענִי may be Sing. Col. (Böttch.), but all the VSS. and twenty-three MSS. supply the Plu. יִם, which may easily have fallen out through the following מִן.)—Necromancy was forbidden on pain of death (Exo_22:18; Lev_19:31; Lev_20:27; Deu_18:10-11). The woman supposes that the stranger is putting her to the test, in order to kill her according to the king’s law and command; and this indicates that it was in this way that the law of extermination of witches was carried out. In the earliest period of the monarchy, as fruit of Samuel’s labors, we see a worship purified from all idolatry, and an energetic zeal against everything connected with idolatry, including this sort of superstition.—[This statement is too broad; idolatry probably existed all along in Israel. Comp. Jdg_18:30-31; 1Sa_19:13.—Tr.] So much the more despicable is Saul’s present action.
1Sa_28:10 sq. Saul swears to her that no harm shall thereby come to her: “by the Lord;” “an oath which shows how completely hardened Saul was” (Keil). Not till he has given this oath does the woman ask: Whom shall I bring up to thee? which is in two respects significant: 1) in that the witch thereby claims to have sovereignty, as it were, over the whole realm of the dead, and 2) in that these words indicate the business-like routine of the witch in her soothsaying and conjuration, and have precisely the tone of the modern small dealer: “what do you wish? and how can I serve you?”—Thenius supposes that the woman thus obtained from Saul the promise that she should not be punished for what he (already recognized by her as the king) should hear from her; but this view rests on the unfounded assumption that the woman had certainly known beforehand from the servants (who had directed Saul to her) of this visit, and must have recognized the visitor, if not by his attendants, yet by his extraordinary bodily size. From the narrator’s account we cannot doubt that his view was that Saul came as an unknown person to the woman. And the woman’s whole conduct, 1Sa_28:12, permits no other opinion. His height need not have betrayed him to her; it was night, and he was disguised; his anxiety, his age and his disguise all permit us to suppose that he was somewhat bowed and bent.—Saul’s demand: Bring me up Samuel (and go the woman’s question) supposes (the word “up” involves it) that the dead dwelt not in the grave, in the pit, but (as buried) dwelt under the earth in Sheol, that is, a large, broad space which received and claimed (from שָׁאַל, comp. Pro_27:20; Psa_6:6 [5]) all the dead without distinction, godly and ungodly—dwelt in a realm of the dead. The contrast to this realm of the dead beneath the earth is heaven above the earth, where dwells the Lord with the host of angels. The superstition in question consisted in the fact that it was believed that by conjuration the dead were compelled to rise from the depth of Sheol to the surface of the earth, and answer questions put to them. It seems from Exo_22:18; Lev_20:27, that women often practiced this necromancy, to which fact Winer conjectures the Fem. Plu. form Oboth to refer (W.-B. II. 626, A. 4). The usual operations or formulas of conjuration, which the woman no doubt employed after the above business-conversation, are not specially mentioned by the narrator, being irrelevant and of purely technical significance, but belong between 1Sa_28:11-12. Böttcher conjectures, but unnecessarily and without ground, that a verse has here fallen out, which mentioned the necromantic apparatus, and stated that the woman went out into a court or garden. Such a supplement is not at all needed for the understanding of the affair. In support of this view Böttcher adduces the words: “and the woman came” of 1Sa_28:21, and the necessity of a large space for the exhibition of a gigantic figure; to which Thenius rightly replies that we need not regard the figure indicated by the “Elohim” [God, 1Sa_28:13] as a gigantic one, and that nothing is said in the account of exhibiting it.
1Sa_28:12. “She saw” (וַתֵּרֶא), not: “she acted as if she saw” (Then.). Render: When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice.—According to this the cause of her outcry was the sight of the apparition of Samuel. The following words: And the woman said to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me, for thou art Saul? indicate that the woman at the same time recognized Saul in the Unknown; this discovery naturally reminded her of her danger as violator of the king’s prohibition. She thinks herself deceived, tricked and given over to death. There is hardly any doubt, therefore, that this sudden perception of her danger, together with Samuel’s apparition, was the cause of the terror which was expressed in her outcry. How she came to recognize the king in the Unknown, is not indicated in the words. Thenius, assuming that she already knew with whom she was dealing, supposes that, as she simulated fear at the alleged apparition, she now pretended that her sudden recognition of Saul came through supernatural influence, through Samuel indeed. But the text gives no support to the assumption on which this explanation rests. Ewald supposes that she burst out into a loud cry on seeing Samuel’s shade, because it ascended with such frightfully threatening gestures as it could have used only against its deadly enemy, that is, Saul, and she thence saw that the questioner must be Saul. But the words give no reason at all to suppose that this was the view of the narrator. Keil holds that the woman had fallen into a state of clairvoyance, in which she could recognize persons who, like Saul, were unknown to her by face. Is there not, however, a simpler explanation, partly psychological, partly suggested by the context, both of her seeing Samuel’s form and recognizing Saul? As to the former, so much is clear from the connection, that only the woman, not Saul, saw Samuel; this appears from Saul’s question, 1Sa_28:13-14 : “What seest thou? what is his form?” She then describes the apparition, in order to leave to Saul its identification with Samuel (1Sa_28:14 b). That the woman went out of the room in which she was at first with Saul, into another, is not said, and is not to be inferred from the words: “she came to Saul.” Therefore in the same room she sees Samuel’s apparition, and Saul does not see it. This can be explained psychologically only as by an inner vision, the occasion for which was given by Saul’s request to bring up Samuel, and the psychological foundation of which was her inward excitement, in connection with her lively recollection of Samuel’s form, which was well known to her from his earthly life, and stood before her mind in vividest distinctness. So Tanchum explains it: “She saw Samuel not with the eyes, but with the aid of the imagination, inwardly, in his well-known form.” And her recognition of Saul just at this moment would be psychologically explained as the product of her inward perception of Samuel (occasioned by Saul’s request), and of her recollection of the relation in which she knew Saul had stood to Samuel and of the prophetic sentence of punishment which Samuel had pronounced against Saul. When now, at this moment, so full of danger for all Israel, she saw before her the mysterious Unknown, who was come through her to question Samuel concerning the impending battle, and who on a nearer view, despite his disguise, made on her by the mysterious character of his personality, the impression of an extraordinary person, she could, by her intensified power of perception, straightway recognize him as Saul, and must needs then be seized with the terror of which the account tells.
1Sa_28:13. Saul calms her deadly fear.—Fear not, that is, concerning thy life.—The question: What seest thou? supposes 1) that he did not see what she saw; 2) that she was with him in the same room in which the foregoing conversation had occurred, and 3) that on account of the manipulations usual in such conjurations, she was yet necessarily at some distance from him. She answers: I see Elohim ascending out of the earth.—The word “Elohim” signifies here not a plurality of appearances (Gods, Sept., Vulg., Syr., Arab.—or spiritual beings, ghosts, Tremell.—or several devils, one of whom took the form of Samuel, S. Schmid—or angels, Chald., Theod.), but, despite the [Heb.] Plu. predicate (עֹלִים, “ascending,” by attraction from the Plu. subst.), a single appearance, as is evident from the Sing. pronoun, “his form,” a spiritual appearance belonging to the region of the super-terrestrial, the superhuman, a fear- and terror-producing spiritual appearance. The word is here employed in a sense “for which the idea of divinity is too restricted, the general, vague idea of the not-earthly not-human” (Hengst., Beit. II. 255). But Thenius also rightly connects with it the idea of the terror-inspiring from the fact that the simple Heb. sounds alah (אָלַהּ), from which the word is made, are the involuntary sounds of astonishment and fear, referring to Gen_31:42, where the “fear of Isaac” stands along with the “God of Abraham.”30
1Sa_28:14. Saul’s second question : What is his appearance, his form? The woman’s answer gives an exacter description of the spiritual appearance which she saw in her visionary state: An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle.—The meil (מְעִיל) is the talar-shaped garment [reaching to the ankles.—Tr.], the prophet’s mantle, which Samuel wore in his life-time (1Sa_15:27), and in which the woman and Saul would necessarily remember him. Still we have no hint that Saul saw the appearance that was visible to the woman. It is said of him only that “from this description he recognized the form seen by the woman to be Samuel, and to do him reverence bowed down to the ground.”
1Sa_28:15-20. Conversation of Samuel and Saul. 1Sa_28:15. And Samuel said, that is, the woman (Tanchum) spoke from the place where she was standing in hollow, dull tones, which Saul supposed to be Samuel’s, perhaps in the manner of ventriloquists, the natural result of her excited visionary state, in which she identified herself with Samuel.—Why dost thou disquiet me, disturb me (comp. Isa_14:9), to bring me up? These words prove that the narrator assumes the previous employment of arts of conjuration, and exclude the supposition (left undecided by Keil, adopted by other expositors) that Samuel’s ascent is represented as produced by miraculous power of God. They also refute the opinion of these expositors, that Samuel’s apparition rose before the woman had employed her art, and that therefore there is no employment of magic means between 1Sa_28:11-12. Rather the view that there was such magic art in this place (between 1Sa_28:11-12) is confirmed by these words of Samuel: “why dost thou disquiet me ?” namely, by the woman’s conjurations. Saul’s answer gives his reason for this disturbance of the dead as follows: 1) I am in great straits from the Philistines, who are warring against me; 2) God has left me, and answers me no more; 3) I wish to know what to do, I am at a loss and uncertain about the future. So I have had thee called31 to tell me what I shall do.—According to the preceding words: “God has left me and answers me no more,” Saul cannot regard the answer which he asks from Samuel as God’s revelation and declaration; in fact there is in his words a contrasting, or at least a distinction between the divine revelation no longer granted him and the supernatural magic-gotten answer which he expects from Samuel. And yet Samuel was the prophet of the Lord and His organ. This is the contradiction to which Samuel’s answer, 1Sa_28:16, refers. The contradiction is not that Saul asks from Samuel a divine announcement, while he yet says there is no longer any such answer for him (Keil).
1Sa_28:16. Samuel’s answer: Why dost thou ask me, since the Lord has left thee and become thy enemy?32 That is: if the Lord has left thee, why dost thou apply to me, the Lord’s instrument?
1Sa_28:17-19 contain the confirmation of Saul’s previous sentence of rejection and the announcement of his impending fate. 1Sa_28:17. The declaration of the fact that the Lord, according to His counsel and determination (עָשָׁה לוֹ, “hath done for Himself” [Eng. A. V.: wrongly “to him”]), has taken the kingdom from him and given it to David. The Lord hath done for himself.—Pleonastic Dative, not unmeaning = has done according to His will, or to carry out His purpose, “to show His truth” (Berl. Bib.). The reading “to thee” (לְךָ) in Sept., Vulg. and some MSS. cited by Thenius (Cod. Kenn. 155, 246; De Rossi 305, 679, 716 [orig.]) is suspicious from its allusion to 1Sa_15:26; 1Sa_15:28, and because it seems to be an attempt to interpret and smoothen the text, though an original ך [thee] might easily be copied as ו [him], and the latter so come into the traditional text. As he spake by me.—Comp. 1Sa_15:23. It is remarkable that while in that passage Saul’s obstinate rebellion, through which he loses the kingdom, is equalled with the gross sin of sorcery, here in the act of committing this superstitious sin (against which he had shown such bloody zeal), the judgment of inward self-hardening being then finished, he again hears the sentence, and learns with terror that the complete realization and definite fulfilment of the divine decree of rejection is now at hand. The whole declaration of 1Sa_28:17 is the factual explanation and confirmation of the words of 1Sa_28:16 : “The Lord is departed from thee and is become thy enemy, thy oppressor.”
1Sa_28:18. The reason is stated, namely, Saul’s disobedience (as in 1Sa_15:23). “This thing” is this strait or distress. Comp. “I am sore distressed,” 1Sa_28:15. The Perf. עָשָׂה [hath done] is to be understood, like the preceding Perfects, of what has happened, and is settled. This Philistine distress, with its immediate results, is God’s act in complete fulfilment of the judgment against him.
1Sa_28:19. Announcement of impending misfortune for himself, his house and his people in battle with the Philistines. And the Lord will deliver Israel also with thee, etc.—“Will deliver” (יִתֵּן) again indicates the act of God in accord with His holy and righteous will, and is to be taken (with Keil) as voluntative; with the king, on whom the judgment falls by the Philistine, the judgment will reach the people also, on account of the ethical and theocratical solidarity [organic oneness] which exists between him and them; the Lord will subject them to the Philistines. And to-morrow wilt thou and thy sons be with me—dead, with me the dead, in the Underworld; “with me” in the kingdom of the dead, in Sheol. Hence it appears that besides self-consciousness (which indeed was conceived of as sunken into a sleep or dream-like state), that is, besides the continued existence of the personality after death, a union after death in Sheol was believed in; at the same time it hence appears that in the realm of the dead the good and evil were not thought to be separated. Thenius would read with the Sept. “thou and thy sons with thee shall fall,” on the ground that the Heb. text strangely first speaks of the Israelites, then descends to the Underworld, then returns to the camp of the Israelites, while the Sept. text presents a perfectly good order: first the general, the defeat; then the particular, the death of Saul and his sons; and finally the result, the plundering of the camp. But the arrangement is excellent in our text, which says nothing else than what the Sept. periphrastically expresses: “to-morrow thou and thy sons will be dead,” and then the Underworld is by no means put in the same line with the Israelites and their camp, but Israel’s renewed defeat, the death of Saul and his sons, and the complete destruction of the camp of Israel, are mentioned as the three decisive blows in the judgment which should fall on Saul.
1Sa_28:20. Up to this point Saul had remained in his reverential posture as stated in 1Sa_28:14; now under the powerful impression of these words he falls suddenly to the ground, and lies his full length on the earth. The cause is stated to be: 1) his terror at Samuel’s words, and 2) his weakness, resulting from the fact (of course from inward excitement), that he had taken no food the whole (preceding) day and the whole night.
1Sa_28:21-25. Saul’s entertainment by the woman. The words “and the woman came” do not in themselves justify the opinion (Then., Diestel in Herz. XVII. 482, et al.) that the woman had been in another room, nor is there any hint of this elsewhere in the narrative. The words of the woman (1Sa_28:21-22) show a talkativeness characteristic of this class of women, and a certain humor, particularly in the contrasting of her obedience to his command and the obedience which she now requires from him for his good, in the introductory words, “and now hearken thou also.” That thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way.—These words express neither apprehension, nor the fear that he would die on her hands, and it would then go hard with her, and her prediction would not be fulfilled (Then.); they exhibit merely her natural sympathy with her guest, worn out by excitement and abstinence from food, which prompts her to offer him her hospitality.
1Sa_28:23 sq. The further minute description of the proceedings of Saul and his servant and the woman is so domestically and psychologically true to life, that the historical trustworthiness of the narrative is put beyond all doubt. Saul refuses to take food because he is full of fear and terror. The servants and the woman force him—he suffers himself to be persuaded. Till now he has lain on the ground; now he gets up and seats himself on the divan (מִטָּה [Eng. A. V. not so well: “bed”—Tr.], “the cushioned bench, which extends along the wall of the room, still found in the East” (Then.). She kills a fatted calf and bakes unleavened cakes. “She kneaded” where we need not supply “it,” since the words describe the operation of kneading. She baked it as unleavened loaves or cakes, because she was obliged to hurry.
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. The theocratic and biblical-theological significance of the history of Saul’s visit to the Witch of Endor is to be judged and determined, first in respect to the representation of the condition of departed souls after death, then as to the religious-moral facts which come under consideration from the Old Testament standpoint of revelation and from the theocratic point of view, and finally as regards Saul’s state of heart in respect to God and the people. In respect to the state of departed souls after death we have the representation not merely of their continuance in personal identity, but also of a self-conscious existence, which is conceived of as a condition of slumber-like rest, from which there may be a rousing and raising; yet such a disturbance is regarded as a disquieting. The abode of the departed, in contrast with heaven as the throne of God and the dwelling of the heavenly powers, is thought to be a wide space deep under the earth (comp. Deu_32:22; Psa_86:13; Psa_63:10 (9); Eze_26:20), not the narrow grave; for Samuel’s grave was at Ramah. The differencing of the realm of the dead from the grave, in which the body is laid, attests the continuance of the soul when separated from the body. Sheol, the Underworld, the Realm of the Dead, receives all the dead without distinction; there is no separation there between Righteous and Unrighteous (1Sa_28:19); the divine law of requital does not reach the Beyond. Comp. Oehler: Vet. test, de rebus post mortem fut. 1846, and the same writer: Die Lehre des Alt-Test, von der Unsterblichkeit (Herz. 21:413 sq.): Böttcher: de inferis rebusque post mortem futuris, 1846. H. A. Hahn: de spe immortalitatis sub V. T. gradatim excultœ, 1846. H. Schultz: Alttestamentliche Thcologie I. 396 sq. [See also Oehler: Theologie des Alt. Test., 1873, I., § 77 sq. (and Eng. Transl.). Delitzsch: Bibl. Psychologie (and Eng. Transl.). Himpel: Unsterblichkeits lehre des Alten Test., 1857. Hodge’s Theology III. 716 sq. Smith’s Bib. Dict. Arts. “Dead, Hell, Pit.” Fairbairn’s Bib. Dict. “Hades.” Ewald: Lehre der Bibel von Gott, 1873, III., § 345.—Tr.]
But while now the condition of departed souls is, as a rule, so conceived and represented, that there is no intercourse between them and the Upperworld, and no return from Sheol (Job_7:9), this narrative of Samuel’s appearance would be the only passage in the Old Testament that teaches the contrary [if it did teach it]. And in fact the narrative means to declare that Samuel really appeared (1Sa_28:16; 1Sa_28:20); as Vilmer remarks (“Vom Aberglauben und Zauberei,” in the Pastoral-theolog. Blättern, 1862, p. 201), “unless violence is done to the text, it can be only understood as affirming that the real Samuel ascended from Sheol.” That is the view of the Septuagint also in the addition to 1Ch_10:13 : “Saul inquired of the ventriloquist [witch], and Samuel the prophet answered him,” and of the Son of Sir_46:20 (23); “and after he fell asleep he prophesied and showed the king his end, and out of the ground lifted up his voice in prophecy.” In contradiction with this correct opinion is the view of the church-theologians of the 16th and 17th centuries, derived from the patristic writers,33 namely, that by divine ordering Saul saw under the form of Samuel a ghost, an illusion produced by demonic, devilish powers. Tertullian (de anima, cap. 57) regards it as a “rivalry of truth by an unclean spirit;” “it was permitted,” says he, “the pythonic spirit to represent the soul of Samuel, when Saul (after he dad inquired of God) inquired of the dead. Far be it from us to believe that the soul of any saint, much less a prophet, can be drawn forth by a demon. We are taught that Satan transfigures himself into an angel of light, but not into a man of light.” So Ephrem Syrus.34 In agreement with this Luther says that it was “the devil’s ghost,” and Calvin that “it was not the real Samuel, but a spectre.” So Grotius: “It is more credible that it was a deceptive spirit, and so the woman herself seems plainly to indicate when she says that gods were ascending out of the earth, thus terming those spirits, one of whom had assumed Samuel’s form.” Comp. S. Schmid (Comm.); A. Pfeiffer, dubia vex. Cent. II. loc. 77; Sal. Deyling, observ. ss. II. obs. 18; Buddæus, hist. eccles., V. I. II. 243 sq.; J. Gerhard, spectrum Endoreum, Jen. 1663 [Bp. Patrick, Comm. in loco]. But the narrative gives not the slightest support to such a view. Neither the original narrator nor the redactor [editor] had in mind (judging from the narrative itself), an illusion produced by demonic or diabolical power. Theodoret, rejecting the view (suggested by the words of the narrative and frequent with the Talmudists) that Samuel’s spirit was really evoked by the conjurations of the woman—held that, before the woman employed her arts, the appearance of Samuel was produced by God’s power, and that God’s voice itself was heard in those words against Saul. He says: “It is thence clear that the very God of all beings, having fashioned Samuel’s form as He wished, uttered the judgment, the witch not having been able to do this, but God gave the decree even through enemies” [Quœst. in Lib. Reg. ad 1 Samuel 28.]. Appealing, for proof that God speaks through enemies, to the example of Balaam and to Eze_14:4; Eze_14:7 sq. (where it is said of idolators “when they come to the prophet, I will answer them after my manner”), he explicitly affirms that the words ascribed to Samuel were a divine utterance spoken through the mouth of the woman who was acting against God’s command. But against this view (which is held also by Justin, Origen, Ambrose, Augustine, and by some Rabbis, as R. Saadias) it is rightly remarked by D. Kimchi, that we can then see no reason why God should not have answered Saul before by Urim and Thummim, by dreams or by prophets. In fact it is fatal to this view that according to it God is here the answerer, while it is expressly said in 1Sa_28:6 that God answered Saul no more, and 1Sa_28:7 clearly means that for this reason Saul turned from God to a sorceress. An immediate divine miracle is assumed, which is to be brought into union with the anti-godly attempt of the sorceress and an open act of godlessness or God-forgetfulness on the part of Saul. Support would thus be given to the superstitious opinion that departed spirits may be summoned, while the fundamental view of the Old Testament every where is that a return of the dead to the land of the living is not possible, comp. 2Sa_12:23; Job_7:9. The necromantic superstition, on which Saul (who, unworthy of a divine answer, is guilty of disobeying the divine command, for which he had displayed so much zeal) and the woman (who practices this superstition as a trade) are united would, according to the narrative, have been the occasion or the medium of a miraculous divine act. Now it may be said indeed that God is accustomed in the wisdom of His providential government so to use man’s evil purpose as to compel it to minister immediately to the revelation of His power and glory, as is shown in the history of Balaam and in the declaration of Eze_14:4; Eze_14:7 sq. But in such cases express reference is made also to the divine control, comp. Gen_15:20; Exo_10:27. But here there is not the slightest allusion to an immediate interference of God. On the contrary, we plainly read between the lines of this narrative that here a sin is committed; there is no trace of divine action. We cannot therefore accept this view, which is wholly without support, from a religious-ethical as well as from a theocratic-historical standpoint, however thorough and earnest a defence it may have found, as from Dachsel, Bibl. hebr. accentuata, Lips, 1729, p. 430 sq.; Berl. Bib.; O. v. Gerlach; Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol., 2 ed., p. 428sq.; Ströbel, Luth. Zeitschr., 1867, p. 781 sq.: V. Rudoff, Die Lehre vom Menschen, 2 ed., 1863, II. 365; Hengstenberg, Abhandl. zu den Psalm. IV., p. 324 sq.; Zeitschrift für Protest. u. Kirche, 1851, p. 138 sq., Abhandl. “Die Geschichte der Zauberin zu Endor.” Comp. Oehler in Herzog XXI. 414 sq.; Dächsel, Bibelwerk; Keil, Komm. The last named remarks: “This apparition was externally indeed spiritual, since Samuel was visible only to the woman, not to Saul, but still only an apparition of Samuel’s soul in Hades in the investiture of the earthly body and clothing of the prophet in order to become visible.” Keil himself remarks that this apparition of Samuel divinely summoned from Hades is a different thing from the appearances of Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17; Luke 9), because the latter appeared in heavenly refulgence and glory; this phenomenon, therefore, so often cited in support of this view falls away as unanalogous and irrelevant. Still less can we appeal to the angelic appearances in human form in Genesis 18 and Judges 13, because these arc superhuman beings. The contradictions in Keil’s view are insoluble, namely, that Samuel appeared “in the spiritual form of the dwellers in Hades,” and yet at the same time “in the investiture of earthly corporeality and clothing,” that Samuel’s appearance in spiritual Hades-form is set over against the announcement of these angels “in human form which was visible to the ordinary bodily eye,” as if Samuel’s apparition was not visible, though it is said that the sorceress saw it and was terrified. According to this view this would be the only passage in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in which a departed sinful man is called by divine power from the kingdom of the dead to the Upperworld. But this would stand in contradiction with Luk_16:17 sq., where Abraham refuses the rich man’s request to send Lazarus to his father’s house to preach to his living brethren. If it be urged that the prohibition of sorcery and necromancy (Deu_18:1; Isa_8:19) does not exclude the possibility of God’s permitting Samuel for special reasons to appear, we reply that neither from the connection of the related procedure nor from the words of the relator are there special grounds for supposing such a miracle, which would be sole of its kind. Apart from the fact that Saul had already vainly used all ordained means for learning God’s will, and might thence conclude that his obstinate impenitence had rendered him unworthy of answer, the appearance and word of Samuel under present circumstances (if God had really been willing to permit it) could no longer have any religious-ethical or theocratic end; no religious-ethical end, because the means for rousing Saul to repentance were exhausted, for this recourse to a necromancer showed a mind thoroughly alienated from God and seeking help elsewhere, a disposition in respect to which even such a miraculous appearance of the prophet would be without effect, as in fact in Samuel’s words there is no exhortation to repentance, and there is no trace afterwards of any change for the better in Saul;—no theocratic end, because Saul’s rejection as king had already been repeatedly announced, and the sending of Samuel would have been superfluous for the announcement of Saul’s impending fall, which, without a miracle, might have reached Saul’s ear and made his heart tremble. We must therefore reject both the ancient church-view of an illusory appearance of Samuel produced by the woman’s magic art, as the medium of a divine revelation, and also that of an appearance produced immediately by divine power without the woman’s aid. Over against these views stands that which regards the whole procedure as a mere deception. Balthasar Becker, te betoverde Wereld [The Magic World] III. 6. Anton van Dale, dissert. de divinationibus idololatricis sub V. T. in the Treatise de origine et prog. Idololatriœ, p. 620 sq. Schmersahl, Natürl. Erklärung der Gesch. Sauls mit d. Betrügerei zu Endor, Hann., 1751. Köcher, Versuch einer Erklärung der Gesch. Sauls und d. Betrügerin zu Endor, Gera, 1780. Hensler, Erläuter. des 1 B. Sam., p. 88 sq., Exeget. Handbuch IV. 251 sq. Comp. Böttcher, de inferis, I. Ill sq., Winer II. 627, Thenius, Diestel in Herz. XVII. 482 sq., Rütschi, ibid. s. v. Endor, A. Kuhle, Bibl. Eschatologie, 1870. 1 Abth., p. 65 sq. and others [Clericus in loco]. Thenius’ remark that “the deception is everywhere clear in the account” must be admitted except as to the “everywhere,” though his reason drawn from 1Sa_28:21 [namely, that the woman had been in another room] is not tenable. The woman’s conduct and words at Saul’s arrival, and at the alleged appearance of Samuel, show that she made necromancy a trade and practiced the deceits usual with such people. The speech of Samuel, a long one under the circumstances, his appearance in the characteristic prophetic dress, and the fact that only she (not Saul) sees the apparition, leave no doubt that technical illusion and magical deception was here employed. But this does not prove that there was absolutely nothing but a refined, conscious deception, proceeding from special motives, as Thenius, for example, supposes that she was impelled by desire of revenge, having perhaps been ill-treated during the expelling of the sorcerers. Against such a merely conjectural pragmatic view, we must distinguish and combine an objective and a subjective element in the explanation of the event; the former a religious-historical, the latter a psychological. The former, which is presupposed in the whole account, consists in the fact that necromancy, according to the passage of the Law in which it is forbidden (Lev_19:31; Lev_20:5-6; Lev_20:26-27; Deu_18:9-14), was regarded not as a mere deception, but 1) as a heathen superstition, that is, as a wicked dealing with evil powers, which pertain to the domain of heathendom, out of which the Lord has chosen His people to be sanctified to Him; and 2) as an apostasy from the living God and a negation of the covenant-relation between Him and His people as a heathen abomination. That Saul and the woman undertake a wicked ungodly, illegal thing, is the obvious judgment of the narrative; but there also appears here (as in the passage of the Law) the assumption, which was founded on universal belief, that in this magic art, as in the others borrowed from heathendom, there was not a mere deception with magic formulas, but a real contact and co-operation with mysterious ungodly powers, and with a secret, specifically heathenish mode of action—though the opinion of the older orthodox theologians as to the operation of wicked spirits or devils here is excluded by the narrative. Gradually came the perception that, as the idols of the heathen are “naught,” so all heathen existence connected with idolatry is empty and vain. (Comp. Schultz, Alttest. Theol. I. 158 sq.) The second element in our explanation is the psychological in the woman’s state of mind and soul. Proceeding on the supposition of a connection with mysterious powers, and perhaps under the excitation of narcotics, the women especially (as in heathen magic) who made necromancy a trade, might, through a fit psychical-somatical character, fall into an ecstatic, visionary state (as modern science supposes in somnambulic and magnetic phenomena), in which with superstitious self-deception they had inward perception of the things or persons inquired for (the inquirers of course seeing nothing), and uttered their recollections or anticipations in dull, suppressed tones, so that it seemed as if the utterance came from other voices, particularly as if the professedly summoned person spoke. See Tholuck: Die Proph. und ihre Weissagung, § 1, “Die Mantik und die dort angeführten Thatsachen nebst literarischen Nachweisungen.” The seeing and speaking of the woman of Endor must be though of in accordance with the nature and characteristic phenomena of ancient and modern mantic (magic), and like the visional-somnambulic states of which there are so many examples in our time, especially among women. What the woman in this condition (in which she identified herself with Samuel) said of Saul in the name of Samuel was partly nothing but what Samuel had repeatedly said, partly nothing beyond the reach of natural conjecture and inference; for after the universally known divine rejection of Saul, after the sad line of experiences which showed that God had forsaken him (he having forsaken God), and especially after the fact, which the woman learned from Saul herself [v. 15], that in the presence of the Philistine army he had inquired of the Lord in vain, the fatal issue of this war could not be doubtful. Calvin has touched the correct view of the woman’s condition when he says that “her senses were deceived, so that she wrongly supposed that she saw Samuel,” though he errs in ascribing this effect to devilish powers. Along with the deceit which was necessarily connected with this necromantic trade, we must suppose a psychological fact (attested by the history of mantic [magic] and by modern science), which raises that part of the procedure that relates to Samuel’s apparition and words out of the sphere of conscious deception and illusive magic. It is only in this way that we can explain the fact that the narrator, according to whom the essential point is that only the woman, not Saul, sees the apparition of Samuel, represents it as if Samuel really appeared and spoke.
The significance of this event for Saul is to be seen not merely from the announcement of his fall in battle, as the completion of the divine judgment, but also from the attitude towards the living God into which he has brought himself by his impenitence and self-hardening. Winer (s. v. Saul) takes a simple and correct view of the case when he says: “It is a shame that the king, who had expelled all sorcerers, etc. (1Sa_28:3; 1Sa_28:9), must himself at last fall into the hands of a sorceress.” Saul’s rejection as king was not his definite banishment from the presence of God. Even if the theocratic kingship to which he had been called had become impossible for him and his house in consequence of his disobedience against God, the king of his people, yet he individually might be saved. But he persisted in his self-blinding, and the sentence was complete in his personal rejection. A tool of heathenish superstition, which he as king ought to have punished, must serve as a means of announcing to him his sentence of death as the conclusion of the divine judicial process, the Lord having preserved silence, and thus already passed sentence on him. The heathen Philistine nation, the hereditary enemy of God’s people, constant war against whom was to be a holy state-affair for the theocratic king, becomes the executor of the divine decree, and carries out against him and his house the sentence of death announced by the necromantic impostor. Calvin: “Saul called not on God with humility, prostrate mind and penitent, believing heart, and therefore God rightly rejected him, and the divine threatening was verified in him (Ye shall call on me, but shall not be heard). He himself shows plainly that he approached God as one in despair, because he had no root of true faith in his heart.” In his life-course up to this time Saul had descended step by step deeper into the abyss of unbelief; he stands now on the last step, about to plunge irretrievably into the depths of endless destruction.
2. There is a silence of God that is the dumb reply to perverse invocation of His name, wherein man seeks to make the divine will subservient to his own, instead of humbly bowing under the will of God. Such a persistent silence on God’s part is the result of persistent opposition of the heart to Him, and of the thence resulting hardening. When man makes his own sinful will his god that he worships and his lord that he serves, he shows the religious perversity of his soul when, like Saul, he nevertheless calls on God and inquires His will, in order to make this will subservient to his selfish desire. Thus from unbelief follows necessarily superstition [Germ.: aus unglauben folgt aberglaube.—Tr.]
[Of the three schemes of explanation of this difficult passage now held—namely, that which regards the affair as a mere deception (Chandler, Thenius), that which supposes a sort of mesmeric clairvoyance in the woman (Keil, Erdmann), and that which sees here a real appearance of Samuel by divine power, the last has found most favor among English orthodox expositors. In many cases the exegesis is determined by dogmatic considerations, as that such a real appearance of a dead person is impossible, or not in keeping with Scripture, or that the summoning of Samuel by a witch is contrary to the holiness of God. Such considerations must, however, be put aside when our object is to discover simply what the narrator affirms. It is clear that the writer says that Samuel appeared and spoke (so Ewald, Erdmann). How are we to accept this? The writer, says one class of critics, shared the superstitions of his day, and believed that the conjurations of the witch really had power over the dead. Erdmann, however, is not satisfied with this explanation, and accounts for the narrator’s affirmation that Samuel really appeared on the ground that besides the element of trickery in the woman’s procedure, there was a real psychological identifying of herself with the deceased prophet, so that the narrator might represent her personation of him as his personal appearance. But certainly this explanation is hardly satisfactory, and it is not easy to see how we can avoid finding in the narration a distinct declaration that Samuel actually appeared and spoke. The only thing in the account itself that opposes this view is the fact that the woman only and not Saul saw the apparition. But it is quite possible that the apparition may have been in a different room from that in which Saul found himself—though this is not mentioned. Such seems to be the plain statement of the text. The dogmatic and other difficulties are discussed by Erdmann. Chandler, in his Life of David, gives a full and forcible presentation of the grounds for supposing the whole affair to be an imposture by the woman.—Tr.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Starke: 1Sa_28:1. Pious men are walls and pillars of cities and lands, Eze_22:30; therefore if such men have to start away, all misfortune starts forth too. (Gen_7:7 sq.). 1Sa_28:2. Virtue and bravery deserve to be rewarded; but the world is wont to promise believers reward, in order to draw them off from the right way (Mat_4:9).—[1Sa_28:3 : Scott: Hypocrites are frequently very zealous against those crimes to which they are not tempted at the time, or from which they may suffer detriment; and apostates frequently commit those sins, which they once were most earnest in opposing.—Tr.].
1Sa_28:4-5. J. Lange: So it goes with the ungodly, that here already they feel in themselves a hell, when their evil conscience awakes in them.—Schlier: Saul fears before men, because he no longer feared God; if we see things rightly, all fear has no other ground than lack of the fear of God.—The fear of man has its ground in unbelief; true fear of God makes one strong and courageous.
1Sa_28:6. Starke: To go to God when in distress is good and necessary; but it must be done without hypocrisy, with true repentance and from the heart (Isa_26:16).—If we do not hear God’s voice when it goes well with us, God can and will refuse to hear our voice also, when it goes ill with us (Pro_1:24 sq.). S. Schmid: Ungodly men and hypocrites care little for God and His service in good days: but when misfortune comes, then they wish to become pious also, and seek God’s counsel and help in every way.—Schlier: The Lord gave Saul no answer. To turn to the Lord Saul has not wished; had he wished that, he would also have found the Lord’s grace. But Saul had no concern about that; he wished to use the Lord for his own ends, he needed a disclosure about his situation, and such a disclosure he wished to force for himself without returning to the Lord.—Calvin: By this example we should learn to draw near to God with all humility when we wish to ask His counsel in prayer, far from all obstinate self-will and passion; for His arm is not shortened that He cannot help those who take refuge in Him. Whence comes it that so often our prayers are in vain, and our hopes deceive us? Our sins shut off the grace of God from us, and our unrighteousness separates us from our God, and fixes an immeasurable gulf between us and God.
1Sa_28:7. S. Schmid: Happy is he who so receives God’s punitive silence or other signs of His wrath, as to be led thereby to true repentance; but hardened hearts take refuge, when God is silent, in wicked men and Satan.—Schlier: An example of the fact that the unbelief which has lost the living God is always full of superstition instead, and thereby is turned over not merely to empty delusion and vain deception, but also to the powers of darkness.—The human heart needs something to cling to, something to which it may hold fast, a prop which its tendrils may firmly clasp; therefore when it leaves Him for whom it was made, when it sinks into unbelief, then it clings to the power of superstition and of darkness. Nothing frees from superstition but true faith.—[1Sa_28:7. Taylor: Here is the great difference between Saul in his sins, and David in his backslidings. From each of his falls you hear David come sobbing out a sorrowful confession and appeal like that in the fifty-first Psalm; in each of Saul’s wickednesses you see him assuming the attitude of sterner defiance toward the Almighty; or if there be any sorrow in his heart at all, it is for the loss he has himself sustained, or the suffering he has himself endured, and not for the dishonor which he has done to God.—Tr.].
1Sa_28:8. Hedinger: So great is the power of conscience that even those who desire evil are ashamed to have it known.—Cramer: The ungodly love darkness and shrink from the light (Joh_3:19), but God knows their works (Pro_17:16).
1Sa_28:11-12. Hedinger [from Hall]: It is no rare thing to lose even our wit and judgment together with graces; how justly are they given to sottishness, that have given themselves over to sin!
1Sa_28:15. Schlier: We see here quite clearly that the souls of the righteous rest in God’s hand, and no torment touches them. He who dies in faith enters into rest in the Lord his God; and since, though the whole world come and use all its arts of sorcery, it brings no such soul back to the earth any more, it follows that we men have no power over departed spirits.—[Scott: Many who despise the servants of God while they live, are so far convinced of their wisdom and fidelity, that they vainly wish for their counsel and instruction, in distressing circumstances, after their death. But in that blessed world to which they are removed, they have done with fear, favor and affection, and are become far more determined than ever in the service and cause of God; and were they to appear they would denounce the doom of impenitent sinners with more awful decision than before.
1Sa_28:15. Taylor: “I am sore distressed.” Oh! the wild wail of this dark misery! There is a deep pathos and a weird awesomeness in this despairing cry; but there is no confession of sin, no beseeching for mercy; nothing but the great, over-mastering ambition to preserve himself.—Tr.].
1Sa_28:16. S. Schmid: He is highly unfortunate and foolish who, when God forsakes him, prefers to seek help and counsel from creatures, rather than by true repentance to make himself again a reconciled friend to God.—Schlier: Wilt thou have light for all the riddles and dark questions of this life, betake thyself to God’s Word; there enough is revealed, there is what is necessary to find everything, and what goes beyond that, comes of evil.
1Sa_28:18. Schlier: God’s wrath is so dreadful, that when all has been in vain He utterly gives up the sinner to His judgments, and unsparingly causes him to learn that sin is ruin to a people.—The judgment of hardening comes only when the crime of hardening has first entered. When we shut ourselves against the voice of God, then on the part of God also must hardening follow, as surely as God is a holy and righteous God, who does not allow Himself to be trifled with.
1Sa_28:20. Cramer: The ungodly do not grow better after God’s wrath is made known, but always worse (Act_7:54). [Taylor: Alas for Saul! how changed is he now from that day when Samuel communed with him concerning the kingdom, or when, in the first noble assertion of his royal right, he delivered the men of Jabesh-Gilead from their threatened destruction! Did ever promise of so fair a life ripen into such bitter fruit?—Tr.]
[1Sa_28:1-2. One of two things David must now do, and either will be grossly wrong, disgraceful, and hurtful both to himself and to others. To this miserable alternative he had brought himself, by distrusting God and relying on deception. It is one of the severest earthly penalties of wrong-doing, that it often leads to the apparent necessity of doing other and greater wrong.
[1Sa_28:4-20. Contrast between Saul and David at this crisis of their history: 1) Both are in great distress. We see David in the camp of the Philistines, seemingly compelled to fight against Israel and against the anointed of Jehovah (comp. 1Sa_26:11); and presently we see Saul journeying in fasting and fatigue, in peril and gloomy desperation across the mountain, and entering in disguise the witch’s abode. Both are entirely unable to decide what to do or what to hope for. 2) Each is suffering the consequences of past sin. 3) But one has utterly forsaken God, and feels that “God is departed” from him, and now the sad story of his disobedience comes back (1Sa_28:17-18), and his worst fears are confirmed (1Sa_28:19), till at last, behold his mighty frame prone on the earth in an agony of despair. The other has yielded to distrust and fallen into sin, but has not at heart abandoned the Lord; it may have been in no such lively exercise then as to give him any comfort, but sinning, sorrowing David had still in his heart the fear of Jehovah. 4) And as a result, the fallen king, ruinously defeated and despairing, dies next day by his own hand (31); while the merciful over-ruling of God’s Providence extricates David from his position (29), and prepares for him a new chastening, which brings him to repentance and trust (1Sa_30:4; 1Sa_30:6-8). Behold the difference between a sinning man impenitent, unbelieving, proud, and a sinning man ready to repent, clinging to faith and really humble before God. (Comp. below on chap. 30., “Hist, and Theol.”).—Tr.]
[1Sa_28:21-25. Even in a sorceress, with all her deceptions and delusions, her wild and dreadful life, the true woman comes out at the mute appeal of misery. How kindly persuasive her words; how prompt her hospitable labors. We take leave of her, as she took leave of the ruined king, with a pitying heart.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][1Sa_28:1. Literally “camps” (מַחֲנֶה). The same word in the last clause of this verse is rendered “battle [army],” and in 1Sa_28:19, “host [camp].”—Tr.]
[2][1Sa_28:1. Syr. adds: “to the ravine” (נחל), perhaps a repeated misreading of לִהלָּחֵם. Sept. has ἐξελθεῖν, apparently taking צכא as Inf. in its original meaning “go forth.”—Tr.]
[3][1Sa_28:2. Sept. “now” (עַתָּה inst. of אִַתָּה), which is better.—Tr.]
[4][1Sa_28:2. Sept.: “chief of the body-guard.”—Tr.]
[5][1Sa_28:3. The ו is omitted in some MSS. and in Sept., Syr., Vulg.; it may be explained as appositional or epexegetical; but the omission is easier.—Tr.]
[6][1Sa_28:3. Usually now rendered “necromancers.” So the Chald. (בִדִּין); Syr., Vulg. and Aq. have “magicians.”—Tr.]
[7][1Sa_28:3. This is a literal rendering of the Heb., which means: “those who know” (Eng. wizard—from the verb wit, “to know”), Erdmann “die klugen leute,” so the Greek. Other VSS. render “sorcerers,” which is the proper sense.—Tr.]
[8][1Sa_28:6. The VSS. are troubled by this word. Sept. ἐν τοῖς δήλοις, Aq. ἐν φωτιομοῖς, Sym. διὰ τῶν δήλων, Syr. “by fire,” Vulg. per sacerdotes. See the Exposition.—Tr.]
[9][1Sa_28:7. אֵשֶׁת is the ordinary form of the construct. of אִשָׁה. Here the relation expressed (lit. woman of a possessor of Ob) would be simply the appositional. The word may possibly be an absolute form, comp. Deu_21:11. Erdmann: “a woman that hath a necromantic spirit.”—Tr.]
[10][1Sa_28:8. De Wette, Philippson, Erdmann render “by necromancy” (todtenbeschwörung); but Ob is the spirit, not the art; Cahen: par (l’esprit d’) Ob.—Tr.]
[11][1Sa_28:10. Properly “iniquity” (עָוֹן), then its result, “blame” (Erdm., schuld), “punishment.”—Tr.]
[12][1Sa_28:10. The Dagh. in the ק, which is merely euphonic, is omitted in very many MSS.—Tr.]
[13][1Sa_28:12. Lit.: “and thou art Saul,” ו explanatory =“for.” But we may render: why hast thou deceived me, and thou art Saul? Erdmann: du bist ja Saul.—Tr.]
[14][1Sa_28:13. The כּי, which is here strange, may be=“but” in rapid excited talk. Sept. “say what thou sawest,” where “say” is an obvious insertion. Other VSS. omit the כּי (Vulg., Syr.).—Tr.]
[15][1Sa_28:13. So De Wette, Cahen, Philippson. Sept., Syr., Arab., Vulg. have Plu., as Eng. A. V. Chald.: “the angel of Jehovah.” Erdmann has geist. See Exposition.—Tr.]
[16][1Sa_28:14. Sept.: ὄρθιον, “upright;” they probably read וָקֵף for וָקֵן(Schleusner).—Tr.]
[17][1Sa_28:15. The short (Waw consec.) form of the verb is found in 2 MSS.—Tr.]
[18][1Sa_28:16. On the text-reading see the Exposition. Aq., Theod.: κατά σου, Sym. ἀντίζηλός σου.—Tr.]
[19][1Sa_28:17. Vulg.: faciet enim tibi Deus. So Sept. and some MSS.: “to thee.” The other VSS. are as the Heb., which is better maintained as the harder reading.—Tr.]
[20][1Sa_28:19. The נַּם here is difficult, unless we render: “both Israel and thee.” Otherwise the נַּם is without explanation, and would seem to be repeated from the third clause. Wellhausen thinks the first and third clauses identical, and omits the first because of the unintelligible נַּם. Yet the “camp” in the third clause seems to difference it from the first, and the conjunction may be explained as above or dropped. The Heb. text is supported by the VSS.—Tr.]
[21][1Sa_28:20. Lit.: “hasted and fell,” according to a common Heb. idiom, Ges. Gr. § 142. Sym.:ταχύ, Sept.: και ἔσπευσε. In 1Sa_28:21 the Sept. renders by this same word the Heb. נִבְהַל, “troubled,” whence Wellh. would read the latter word, but unnecessarily, for the present text gives a good sense, and Sept. might be right here, and wrong in 1Sa_28:21.—Tr.]
[22][1Sa_28:23. Instead of ויפרצו, some MSS. and EDD. have ויפצרו. The former=“violently pressed on,” the latter=“besought.” The text, as the stronger and more vigorous, must be maintained.—Tr.]
[23][1Sa_28:23. Many MSS. and EDD. read עַל inst. of אֵל, and so the ancient VSS. seem to have read. אֵל is difficult here.—Tr.]
[24][1Sa_28:24. Sept. νομάς: Sym.: πεφιλοτροφημένη, Others: γαλαθηνόν.
[25][This incorrect name comes from a misunderstanding of Psa_89:12 (13).—Tr.]
[26][According to Stanley (Sin. and Pal., IX., 1Sa_2:3) Saul was stationed nearly on the site of Gideon's camp. See Art. “Gilboa” in Smith’s Bib-Dict., and Hackett’s note, Amer. Ed.—Tr.]
[27][Bp. Patrick notes that the same three classes are mentioned in Iliad 1:62.—Tr.]
[28][Not necessarily here in the good sense, more probably it and “prophet” are intended to describe all classes of predictions.—Tr.]
[29] קְםמִי, Kethib, קָםֳמִי, Qeri, comp. Ew. § 40 b: the O-sound is sometimes so pressed by new endings that it recedes to a foregoing vowelless consonant, and is sometimes repeated with two adjacent consonants, as כָּתָבְךָ In such cases we find the half-vowel echo Oo in the same syllable (commonly found only with gutturals), generally with ק, and in a loosely connected syllable as here. Comp. Jdg_9:8.
[30][Whatever may be the original meaning of the stem (אלהּ), the reasoning of Thenius, endorsed by Erdmann, is very unsafe. We know too little of primeval onomatopoeia to base etymologies on it. The example of Gen_30:42 cannot be decisive for the original meaning of Elohim, and, if it were, the actual historical meaning is a question of use, not of etymology. Now “Elohim” is elsewhere in the Old Testament used only of “god” and “judges or kings.”—Tr.]
[31]On the -ֶה parag. instead of -ָה, for strengthening, see Ew. § 228 c, A. 1.
[32] ערִ = “enemy,” occurs elsewhere only in Psa_139:20, a Psalm which undoubtedly contains some Aramaic words and forms, and in Dan_4:16 as a Chaldee word—not in Psa_9:7 and Isa_14:21, where the form is to be otherwise explained. We might take the word as Aramaic form of צָר, the interchange of Heb. צ and Aram. ע being not infrequent, like γ and ξ in Greek (examples in Ges. under letter ע n. 3); and though there is no other Aramaic form in this section, and the word צָר (for עָר) appears with this signification mostly in poetry (Job_36:16; Lam_1:5; Lam_1:7; Lam_1:10), yet the prophetical style (as here) is not far removed from the poetical, and צר might be used here as well as in Num_10:9, which is not properly poetical; the Aramaic change of צ into ע might easily come by error in copying. The use of צָר might be explained as a designed reference to צַר־לִי in 1Sa_28:15. But the absence of לְ before עָרֶֽךָ makes a difficulty, הָיָה never occurring in such a construction without it; though, while unexampled, it, would not be ungrammatical (Maur.). We should expect לְעָרֶךָ. Does not this then cast suspicion on the whole expression, especially as עָרֶךָ in Psa_139:20 is not assured? It is certainly surprising and noteworthy that Sept.: καὶ γέγονε μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον σου, and Vulg.: transierit ad œmulum tuum [in Psalms 139. Sept. πόλεις, Vulg. adversarii—Tr.], render (comp. Syr., Ar.) as if they read וי׳ עִם רֵעֲךָ = “and is with thy neighbor,” which Then. thence adopts as the true reading. These translations may indeed be mere conjectural paraphrases (Keil), or may have had in mind the לְרֵעֲךָ of the following verse and the parallel passage, 1Sa_15:28 (Maur.). It is hard to decide, the pros and cons being so nearly balanced.
[33][But Justin Martyr (Dial. cum Trypho) holds that it was really Samuel.—Tr.]
[34][And Cyril of Alexandria and Jerome.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain THE PHILISTINES PREPARE TO FIGHT WITH ISRAEL, 1Sa_28:1-2.
THE PHILISTINES PREPARE TO FIGHT WITH ISRAEL, 1Sa_28:1-2.
1. The Philistines gathered their armies — These inveterate enemies of Israel had hitherto been unable to regain the dominion which they lost in the time of Samuel’s rule, (see note on 1Sa_7:13,) though they made repeated efforts to do so all the days of Saul. Now, however, they are about to enjoy a momentary triumph.
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Thou shall go out with me to battle — This demand was placing David and his men in a difficult position, for how could they take up arms against their own nation and kindred?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain Ch. 1Sa_28:1-2. David forced to join the Philistine army
Ch. 1Sa_28:1-2. David forced to join the Philistine army
1. in those days] While David was at Ziklag, as related in the previous chapter.
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare.—This…
(1) The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare.—This was evidently, as Jose-phus remarks, a great effort on the part of the Philistines. It was no ordinary raid or border incursion, such as seems to have been so frequent all through the reign of Saul. Since their defeat in the Valley of Elah, which followed the single combat between Goliath and David, no such Philistine army had been gathered together. We are struck at once with the presence of the enemy in the heart of the land, no longer choosing the well-known and often-contested “Marches,” or border districts. The Philistines are now strong enough to strike a blow at the centre of the kingdom, and to challenge a battle on the plain of Jezreel. or Esdraelon, north of Ephraim and Issachar. They probably marched along the sea-border of Canaan, collecting their forces as they advanced from each of their well-known military centres, and then, turning eastward, invaded the land by the Valley of Jezreel, or Esdraelon. They marched still eastward, and took up a strong position on the slopes of one of the groups of mountains that enclosed the broad plain of Jezreel toward the east, near the town of Shunem. King Saul, quickly assembling the fighting men of Israel, marched in pursuit, and coming up with them in the Esdraelon plain, took up his position opposite the Philistines—only a few miles parting the two hosts—on the slopes of another group of mountains, known as Mount Gilboa, lying to the south of the Philistine frontier. (There is a map of the Plain of Esdraelon in Stanley’s Jewish Church, vol. ii., Lecture 21, illustrative of this closing scene in Saul’s career, well worth consulting.)
And Achish said.—David soon found into what a grievous error he had fallen by taking refuge with the hereditary foes of his people. Want of faith and patience had urged him to take this unhappy step. The sixteen months he had spent in Phihstia had been certainly successful, inasmuch as they had strengthened his position as a “free lance” captain, but nothing more. They had been stained by bloodshed and cruelty. His life, too, was a life of duplicity and falsehood. The results of his unhappy course of action were soon manifest. His nation sustained a crushing and most humiliating defeat, which he narrowly escaped being obliged to witness, if not to contribute to. His own general recognition as king was put off for nearly seven years, during which period a civil war hindered the development of national prosperity; besides which, during this time of internal divisions the seeds were too surely laid of the future disastrous separation of Judah and the south from the northern tribes—a division which eventually took place in his grandson’s time, when his strong arm and Solomon’s wisdom and power were things of the past.
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The summons of Achish to his great military vassal was perfectly natural: indeed, Achish had no reason to suspect that such a campaign as the one the Philistines were about to undertake against King Saul would be in any way distasteful to the wronged and insulted David. Not improbably the presence of David and his trained force—including, as the wily Philistine well knew, some of the bravest souls in Israel—encouraged Achish and the other Philistine lords to this great and, as it turned out, supreme effort against Israel. The King of Gath and his colleagues in Philistia saw that, in the divided state of Israel, their chances of success were very great, and it is highly probable that they looked forward to establishing their friend and follower David on the throne of Saul as a Philistine vassal king.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain ACHISH SUMMONS DAVID TO JOIN HIM IN THE WAR…
ACHISH SUMMONS DAVID TO JOIN HIM IN THE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL (vers. 1-2).
In those days. Ie. while David was dwelling at Ziklag. The Philistines gathered their armies together. This was, as Josephus has observed, a war upon a much larger scale than any that had been carried on since the defeat of the Philistines in the valley of Elah; for we find that the invasion was made from the north, and the decisive battle fought not in the usual field of operations, but in the territory of the tribe of Issachar, in the neighbourhood of Jezreel. We are not indeed to suppose from this that the Philistines had conquered all the central districts of the land, and, driving Saul before them, at last brought him to bay, and slew him in the north; for though Ishbosheth was compelled to withdraw to Mahanaim, a city on the eastern side of the Jordan, yet Abner is said to have made him king there not only over the trans-Jordanic tribes, but also "over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin". (2Sa_2:9) It may be said, however, that these were but titular claims; but the philistine conquests, as described 1Sa_31:7, if not confined to the valley of Esdraelon, as in 1Ch_10:7, were nevertheless all of them to the north of Mount Gilboa, thus leaving Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah untouched. Nor do we find the Philistines encamped between David at Hebron and Ishbosheth at Mahanaim, or interfering in their contests; and it is only when David was made king over the whole of Israel that they again assembled their forces to dispute the empire with him, and twice suffered defeat. (2Sa_5:20, 2Sa_5:25) More probably, therefore, they marched northward through their own territory, raising the whole of the military population as they went, and then, turning eastward, broke into the Israelite territory by the valley of Jezreel. It was probably the rapid decline of Saul"s power which encouraged the Philistines to attempt once again to place their yoke upon the neck of Israel; and Saul, conscious that God"s blessing had departed from him, in pitiable agony sought for unholy aid, but finally, with his sons, made a last brave defence, and died a soldier"s death. Achish said unto David. As a vassal David was bound to accompany his lord to the acid; and Achish, supposing that David had of his own accord made war upon Judah, probably assumed that the invitation was one which he himself desired. To battle. Hebrew, "in the army.
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Vers. 1-5.
The operation of moral causes.
The facts are
1. On war arising between the Philistines and Israel, Achish reminds David of his obligation to assist him in battle.
2. David, although answering ambiguously, is trusted by Achish, who promises him promotion.
3. On the opposing forces being assembled, Saul"s heart faints for fear ofhis enemy. The narrative shows that both David and Saul were at the same time in embarrassed circumstances, and each as the consequence of his sin.
They were bent on totally diverse objects, but neither of them was in a position of safety. The penalties of transgression were being paid. We see here an instance of
I THE QUESTIONABLE AMBIGUITIES OF LIFE. David"s false step in yielding to unwarrantable fear, followed as it was by actions unworthy of his fair fame, was now developing to a crisis in which the principles of his entire life would be put to an unavoidable test. His heathen friend and protector naturally claimed his help in the coming struggle with Israel. Painfully must David have winced as Achish, trusting to his honour and gratitude, reminded him of his obligations. Although he had simulated hostility to Israel for his own selfish purposes, and had done himself and his countrymen a wrong by allowing it to be supposed that he could ever be their enemy, yet there was enough of fidelity in his heart to save him from so dire an evil as was suggested by Achish. To escape from the awkward position, recourse was had to the craft of an ambiguous statement, to which he and Achish attached different meanings. The common judgment on David"s conduct will be adverse. Even though some would apologise for it under the plea of danger, yet they must condemn its essential falsehood. It is not lawful to palliate our deceit by reference to difficulties created by our own misconduct. Plain, straightforward words and conduct, even in times of perplexity, are not only morally best, but, even from a utilitarian point of view, are most conducive to permanent welfare. It is to be feared that ambiguities abound in life more than becomes a Christian profession. There is conduct as well as language admitting of double interpretation. We should always aim to be and to speak so as not to be objects of suspicion. To say exactly what we mean and to act with singleness of purpose is to approximate towards the "simplicity that is in Christ". (cf. Rom_12:8; 2Co_1:12 2Co_11:3)
II UNTIMELY TROUBLES. Troubles are in the way at any time, but there are seasons when their presence is most inconvenient. It was annoying to David that war should break out between Israel and the Philistines just when he was, according to the ordinary judgement of men, under obligation to assist Achish; and it was especially inconvenient to Saul that this trouble of war should occur when, by reason of Samuel"s long discountenance of his reign, the gradual alienation of able men, the loss to the kingdom of David"s prowess, and his own private sorrows, it was not possible to gather adequate forces and act with wonted energy. Providence has a manifest tendency to allow troubles to cross the path of the wrong doer just when, for his own purposes, it is desirable to have it quite clear.
I will hedge up thy way with thorns," is a prediction likely to be fulfilled in the lives of rulers and nations bent on a crooked course of conduct; nor can individuals escape the law of providential vexation when they practise deceit or, like Saul, cherish an impenitent spirit. It is thus that the delusiveness of sin appears; for the ease and pleasure anticipated in doing one"s sinful will vanish before events, which, like mists around a mountain, seem to come from we know not where. A man"s sin will be sure to find rebuke in forms he could not foresee. It is very inconvenient to be on the wrong side in the moral conflicts of life. Good men can bear trouble in patience, knowing that it is as truly helpful to their highest interests as is joy; wicked men not only lose the support of a clear conscience, but have to learn that the end for which they have striven will be frustrated. (cf. Psa_7:9 Psa_37:38 Psa_112:10)
III THE OPERATION OF MORAL CAUSES. The troubles which thus came on David and Saul, producing in the one a questionable ambiguity of conduct, and in the other a sense of helplessness, were connected with a set of moral causes that had been in steady operation for a considerable period, and had interacted with the physical in producing the crisis. Taking the case of Saul, we see how his sin in the early part of his reign, being unrepented, induced the line of conduct which drove David from the land, alienated the spiritual power and many of the ablest men, gradually drew around himself evil men, and created uneasiness and distrust in the nation. Whatever reluctance on the part of the people to assemble in full force, and whatever want of nerve on the part of Saul to lead them on, might have been the immediate cause of his fear these were the result of the moral defection which had slowly worked on all departments of life. Besides this, the sin of Saul had had the effect of so withdrawing the Divine favour that Providence, by not restraining their will, permitted the attack of the Philistines. For moral reasons Saul"s predicted doom was preparing, in spite of all his efforts to avoid it. It is one of the most striking characteristics of the Bible, as compared with other books, that it brings into prominence the moral causes that affect the present and future position of men. Assuming the orderly action of physical laws, it impresses us with the truth that the mental and moral are above the physical, and that man by his conduct sets in motion moral forces which, by a subtle interaction, ultimately govern the bearing of the physical upon his condition. Moral causes are primary. In so far as we may imagine the Divine action in creation having a beginning, the moral cause of action was antecedent. The reason of the exercise of power was moral. In our world"s sad history moral causes have been primary. The same is true of our personal life. They lie at the spring of our joy or woe. They are also silent and slow. Saul"s sin and impenitence were not uttered, and they worked on in silent, slow course all through his life. It seems to require time for the higher moral laws to work out their legitimate consequences in the sphere of the physical. There are many illustrations of this in the lives of evil men, as also of good. They are also invincible. No energy or cunning on the part of Saul could obviate the political and military weakness of his kingdom. No power can check the tendency to physical and political decay consequent on the sins of statesmen and peoples. The whole universe submits to the action of the moral forces that are tending to bring men into judgment. The sea even will obey and give up its dead.
General lessons:
1. In embarrassments brought on by our sins. it is honouring to God to speak the plain truth and trust to his care,
2. The affairs of life will be easily conducted in proportion as men arehonest and simple in word and deed.
3. Those only who learn the lessons of trouble in their early stage willescape later evils.
4. We should be thankful to God for hedging our erring steps withdifficulties.
5. It is a comfort to the holy that the principles ruling in their souls aredestined to finally subdue all things to their truest welfare.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE.
Vers. 1-6. (GILBOA.)
Darkening. shadows of retribution.
when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled" (ver. 5).
1. The end of Saul was now approaching. How long he reigned is not stated. ("forty years,". Act_13:21; perhaps a round number, including the judge ship of Samuel) But his course from his first wrong step (1Sa_13:8-15) had been a downward one, broken only by brief seasons of amendment. His mental malady may account in part for some of his actions in his later years. During his persecution of David the enemies of Israel became more powerful and aggressive, and, in retribution for unfaithfulness to Jehovah, he was about to be delivered with the host of Israel "into the hand of the Philistines," from whom he had been chosen to effect deliverance. (1Sa_9:16)
2. The Philistine invasion was on a larger scale than any that had recently occurred, (1Sa_13:5 1Sa_17:1) and in a different part of the country. It was evidently planned with a view to inflict a fatal blow on Israel. The enemy marched northward, entered the plain of Esdraelon (Jezreel), the battle field of Palestine (stretching out eastward in three branches, like fingers from the hand), and encamped at Shunem (at the base of Little Hermon, north of the central and principal branch). "And the Israelites pitched by the fountain which is in Jezreel", (1Sa_29:1) on a spur of Mount Gilboa (south of the central branch), from which they could see the Philistines, three miles distant across the plain, where on the morrow the conflict must be waged.
3 . What the issue of the conflict was likely to be Saul"s heart told him only too plainly. He felt that what he had so long dreaded was about to come upon him; that the sentence of rejection formerly uttered by Samuel, (1Sa_16:14-16) now gone to his rest (ver. 3), was to be fully executed, and that he would be deprived of his crown, and probably of his life. David, who had once saved Israel in similar peril, had gone over to the Philistines, (1Sa_27:4) was now (as he thought) among them, and would "surely be king". (1Sa_24:20) The night of retribution is setting in. The ministers of vengeance are gathering, like vultures to the prey,
From the invisible ether; First a speck, and then a vulture, Till the air is dark with pinions.
The experience of Saul is shared by many a persistent transgressor in the presence of imminent danger and approaching death, when "the terrors of God do set them selves in array against" him. (Job_6:4 Job_24:17) He is
I BESET BY IRRESISTIBLE FEAR. The sight of superior hostile forces is calculated to produce such fear, but its power to do so depends chiefly upon the inward state of a man himself, more or less conscious of his condition;
1. The remembrance of past transgressions, and of the punishment threatened against them, and already in some measure experienced. Circumstances often quicken the memory and open its secret records, so that former actions and events reappear, are seen in their true character, and fill the soul with consternation. "I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes".
2. The consciousness of Divine displeasure in consequence of disobedience, and the heart not being right with God. Although conscience may slumber long, the hour of awakening comes, and when it asserts its power "its frown is more to be dreaded than the frowns of kings or the approach of armies. It is a fire in the bones, burning when no man suspects" (South). "A wounded spirit who can bear?". (Pro_18:14)
O conscience, conscience, man"s most faithful friend, How canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend! But if he will thy friendly cheeks forego, Thou art, oh, woe for me! his deadliest foe". (Crabbe)
3. The foreboding of approaching doom. Conscience "exerts itself magisterially, and approves or condemns,...and if not forcibly stopped, naturally and always, of course, goes on to anticipate a higher and more effectual sentence, which shall hereafter second and affirm its own" (Butler).
II IMPELLED TO SEEK DIVINE COUNSEL. "And Saul inquired of Jehovah" (ver. 6). It is not recorded that he had ever done so since he "asked counsel of God" and "he answered him not". (1Sa_14:37) His communication with Heaven had evidently been long interrupted. But under the influence of fear he felt the urgent need of it, as other men who have neglected to seek God often do in times of danger, and he expected that it would come at his bidding, as a matter of course, when he made use of the recognised means of obtaining it, apart from a proper state of heart, therein exhibiting the same blindness as of old. (1Sa_13:9) Cherishing a spirit of envy and hatred, how could it be expected that he should be visited by the Divine Spirit in dreams of good? Having slain the high priest, and compelled his son to flee to David "with the ephod" and the Urim, how could it be expected that he should obtain counsel through another whom he had appointed in his stead, or, having alienated the prophets, that he should gain it through them? Divine aid is often sought through proper channels in vain because
1. It is not sought at the right time, thou mayest be found". (Psa_32:6) "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer", (Pro_1:24-33) which takes place not merely as a just punishment for long neglect, but also on account of the increased hardness of their hearts thereby induced, and rendering them incapable and utterly unworthy of holding communion with God. "If we do not hear God"s voice when it goes well with us, God can and will refuse to hear our voice when it goes ill with us" (Starke).
2. It is not sought in a right spirit with humility, penitence, self-renunciation, and faith. Of these principles there is no trace in the inquiry of Saul.
3. It is not sought with a right purpose, but with some earthly and selfish end in view, rather than the Divine honour. "As the event proved, Saul did not really inquire of the Lord in the sense of seeking direction from him, and of being willing to be guided by it. Rather did he, if we may so express it, wish to use the Lord as the means by which to attain his object. But that was essentially the heathen view, and differed only in detail, not in principle, from the inquiry of the familiar spirit, to which he afterwards resorted" (Edersheim). "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss," (Jam_4:3; Psa_66:18; Isa_66:4; Eze_14:4 Eze_20:31)
III DENIED THE DESIRED RESPONSE. "Jehovah answered him not," etc. (ver. 6). "I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more" (ver. 15). "Saul received from God no answer more, except for judgment.
1. What dreadful silence and loneliness are here revealed! "We read of the silence of the desert, the silence of midnight, the silence of the churchyard and the grave; but this is something more profound and appalling the silence of God when appealed to by the sinner in his extremity. It is not the silence of indifference, nor of inability to hear, nor of weakness, nor of perplexity; but of refusal, of rejection, of displeasure, of abandonment" (Bonar, "Bible Thoughts"). "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone". (Hos_4:17)
1. What utter helplessness!
2. What intolerable darkness and distress!. (Heb_10:27)
Consider
1. That if "inquiry of the Lord" be left unanswered, the reason of it is to besought in the moral condition of the inquirer.
2. That nothing but the offering of the sacrifice of "a broken and a contriteheart" can prevent despair.
3. That the boundless mercy of God should awaken hope even at "theeleventh hour. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to…
1Sa_28:1-25
The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel.
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Night preceding battle
As the flash of lightning reveals the hidden scenery around, so the reception of momentous news suddenly reveals character. Two such events we trace--the news of the terrible defeat brought to Saul, and the news of Sauls death brought to David. Leading his people to meet the Philistines, at whose number he is astonished and affrighted, we come upon Saul as his army is encamped on the slopes of Gilboa. We notice:--
I. Divine direction sought (1Sa_28:6). In all former difficulties Saul had sought Samuel. The prophets voice was hushed. Few estimate faithful advisers at their value. Saul had no Samuel now. He knew not God. His desolateness is indescribable. His own hand had closed the avenues along which the angel of mercy had been wont to come. Yet, as Cowper says, In agony nature is no atheist; so this desolate and moody man kneels to God! Self-will, pride, resentment lurk in his petition (1Sa_28:15). He has no wish to know Gods will, only how he may be successful! Complaints against Gods dealings--there is no prayer in such words! Is it ever any use coming thus to seek Gods help? Merely for our own selfish ends, asking the Divine One to become partner in our self-seeking purposes! Come, let us hold our prayers up to the light! Not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom. Unable to bear the silence, Saul exhibits the--
II. Desperate defiance of disobedience. In those days when his vision was clear and his heart open to Divine teaching he abhorred this sin. Driven by fear, jealousy, and pride, refusing to humble himself before God, he sends his servant to find one that hath a familiar spirit (1Sa_28:7). Superstition takes the place of obedient faith. The four theories concerning this scene may thus be summarised--
(1) that Samuel actually appeared by the Divine will;
(2) that Saul was then granted a vision by Divine power, in which he saw, as in a dream, the prophet;
(3) that which attributes it to Satanic agency; and the last, that it was an imposture conceived and carried out by Abner and his mother. The narrative itself seems clearly to establish the fact of Samuels appearance. Samuels reply is a refusal! In solemn words Samuel reminds Saul of the removal of Gods favour: The Lord is on the side of thy neighbour (1Sa_28:16). The Lord keepeth His word, and hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand (1Sa_28:17). Death and disaster are thy portion (1Sa_28:18-19). Could a greater proof be given of Gods refusal to hear.
III. Disobedience ends in disaster. Did not our fathers fall in the wilderness through unbelief? Is that not why so many fail to enter the life of joy?
1. Disobedience produced direst misery. In the path of disobedience we become targets for the archers of Satan.
2. Disobedience culminated in suicide. The inhabitants of hell are surely suicides. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. Ye would not come unto Me, that ye might have life. (H. E. Stone.)
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The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 1Sa_28:1. “Know thou assuredly.” Some expositors regard these words…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_28:1. “Know thou assuredly.” Some expositors regard these words of Achish as designed to try David: others think they express the entire confidence which the king placed in him.
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1Sa_28:2. “Surely thou shalt know,” or Assuredly, or Therefore thou shalt know. Evidently David found himself in a dilemma and gives an ambiguous answer. “Keeper of mine head,” i.e., “captain of my body-guard—an office of great trust and high honour.” (Jamieson.) The narrative here breaks off and is continued in chapter 29, the historian meanwhile turning aside to relate the effect which this Philistine invasion had upon Saul.
1Sa_28:3. “Saul had put away,” i.e., long before the event about to be recorded. He had expelled them from his kingdom, but the Levitical law was, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” (Exo_22:18; Lev_20:27.) The strong deuunciations uttered by God against these people seem to afford a strong proof that they were not simply deceivers of the people, but were really in direct and close communication with the spirits of evil.
1Sa_28:4. “Shunem.” Now called Solam or Sulem, a village situated on the southern declivity of the so-called Little Hermon, which forms the northern boundary of the valley of Jezreel. “Gilboa,” a mountain range on the opposite side of the valley. “The Philistines clung as usual to the plain, which was most suitable for those war chariots of which their military armament principally consisted, and they took up an advantageous position for the free and effective use of that force in action. That of the Hebrews was badly selected.” (Jamieson.) “The ground slopes down gradually from Shunem to the very base of Gilboa at the fountain, while the hillside rises steeply from the plain. The Philistine had all the advantage of the gentle descent in their attack—both front and flank of the Israelites were exposed to their onset, and the prospect of flight almost completely cut off by the steep hill behind.” (Porter.)
1Sa_28:6. “Neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.” “In the order of arrangements of these three vehicles of revelation there is a progression from the less to the greater, since in the Old Testament a subordinate position is certainly assigned to the dream as the medium of Divine influence on the inner life, which in sleep loses the power of self-manifestation, and sinks into a state of the extremest passivity. Urim is the abbreviation of Urim and Thummim (Exo_28:30; Num_27:21), which, as the high-priestly medium, of inquiring the Divine will, stands between the revealing dreams and the prophetic testimony. But since the murder of the priests in Nob, the external apparatus, the Ephod with the [Urim and Thummim had been in David’s camp (see 1Sa_22:20; 1Sa_23:6; 1Sa_30:7), and nothing is anywhere said of another high priest than Abiathar, who had fled to David. Thenius thence concludes that this section contradicts the narrative of chap. 23 … but after the catastrophe at Nob, Saul may well have had a new Ephod with Urim and Thummim prepared (Keil), and this is the more natural from Saul’s independent mode of procedure in matters of religious service, and the probability that in his heated theocratic zeal he did not suffer the public service at the tabernacle to cease after the murder of the priests.… Intercourse between Saul and the prophets had doubtless been broken off since the beginning of Saul’s persecution of David (chap. 19), while it continued between David and the prophets so far as circumstances permitted (1Sa_22:5 sq.) But in his anxiety and despair Saul had now again turned to them for aid. Proof that application was made to prophets not only in great theocratical matters, but also in personal affairs, is found in chaps. 1Sa_9:6 sq.; 1Ki_14:1 sq.; 2Ki_1:3.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_28:7. “A woman that hath,” etc.; literally “a woman, a mistress of Ob,” i.e., of “a spirit by which the dead are conjured up.” (Erdmann.) “Ob signifies properly a leathern bottle, and is applied in several passages of Scripture to magicians, because, being possessed by an evil spirit, and swollen by inhalation of some gaseous substance, which made them pant and heave, they spoke with a soft hollow voice, as out of a leathern bottle.” (Jamieson.) “Endor.” On the northern declivity of Little Hermon, so that the Philistine camp lay between it and Gilboa. Dr. Thomson remarks, “Poor Saul! It was a fearful ride that dark night.… He probably kept to the east of Jezreel, crossed the valley below Ain Jalûh, and thence over the shoulder of this Jebel-ed-Dûhy (Little Hermon) to Endor, but it must have been perilous in the extreme, and nothing could have induced Saul to venture thither but the agony of despair.”
1Sa_28:11-19. Biblical students take three different views of the event here narrated. Some regard the whole as a mere deception; others think that Samuel really appeared, while many believe that an evil spirit was permitted by God to assume the appearance of the prophet. We accept the latter view, but subjoin the arguments used in favour of the other two. Dr. Chandler says: “The more thoroughly I consider it, the more thoroughly I am convinced that there was no appearance of any kind of spirit, or phantom, at all, and that Samuel was not consulted nor gave any answers … indeed, there are so many marks of imposture and deceit, that may be observed throughout the entire relation, as that I have no doubt but that this conference was entirely carried on by Saul and the old witch, without the help of any spirit whatever.… This affair was transacted by night, the time most proper to manage deceptions of this kind—when persons are most liable to be impressed by fear and imposed on by their own imaginations.… Also, even Samuel himself doth not seem to have known anything of God’s raising him from the dead, for he saith nothing about it … but expressly blames Saul for disturbing him and bringing him up.… If he had known that God had brought him up, he would not have complained of being disquieted by Saul. Now as Samuel knew, as well as Saul, that consulting the dead was absolutely unlawful, surely it became the prophet to reprove him for doing it, and to let him know that, though he appeared, it was not by virtue of her art, but by the immediate power of God.… Instead of this, he shows himself displeased with Saul for doing it, and thereby excludes God from having any hand in it.” Dr. Chandler further points out that no third person was apparently present at the interview between Saul and the woman, and that Saul himself saw nothing, and only concluded that it was the prophet from the description given by the woman, who had no doubt been acquainted with Samuel’s appearance during his life. He argues that she must have known who her visitor was before she consented to employ her incantations, and that she merely concealed her knowledge for a time in order that she might appear to have gained it from Samuel; also, that there was nothing in her reply to Saul that his own account of himself would not have suggested. Notwithstanding these and other objections, many modern expositors agree with Jewish commentators, and with Origen, Ambrose, and others, in supposing that Samuel did really appear to Saul “This view,” says Dr. Hengstenberg, “is in harmony with the narrative. For
(1) the author says, in 1Sa_28:14, that Saul perceived, not fancied, it was Samuel.
(2.) The words which are put into the mouth of the apparition are fully worthy of Samuel, and quite unsuitable for an evil spirit.
(3.) The appearing one foretells things which no human acuteness could have foreseen.” Archbishop Trench, and others, in adopting this view, consider the appearance of Samuel in answer to enchantments as a fulfilment of the threat afterwards uttered, “Everyone of the house of Israel which separateth himself from Me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him, by Myself.” (Eze_14:7.) But notwithstanding the considerations which seem to favour this view, we agree with Luther, Grotius, and other theologians of the Reformation, in believing that it was Satan himself, or one of his agents, who appeared to the woman and spoke to Saul. For, as Dr. Erdmann remarks (though in support of a different opinion), “it is expressly said in 1Sa_28:6 that God answered Saul no more, and that for this reason, he turned from God to a sorccress. An immediate Divine miracle is assumed, which is to be brought into union with the anti-godly attempt of the sorceress and an open act of godlessness or God-forgetfulness on the part of Saul. Support would thus be given to the superstitious opinion that departed spirits may be summoned, while the fundamental view of the Old Testament everywhere is that a return of the dead to the land of the living is not possible.” He further remarks that such an appearance—if God had really been willing to permit it—could no longer have had any religious ethical end, seeing that the means for rousing Saul to repentance were exhausted, nor any theocratic end, seeing that Saul’s rejection as king had already been repeatedly announced. On the other hand there can be no doubt of the intimate connection between witchcraft or sorcery and the spirits of evil. The stern denunciations of God against it prove that it was not a fancy but a fact. The damsel who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying, mentioned in Act_16:16, is said to have been possessed by an evil spirit, and miraculous deeds of a certain kind are, in the Bible, attributed to such servants of Satan, as in the case of the Egyptians (Exo_7:11-22. In the New Testament it is said that “Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light” (2Co_11:14), and his working is declared to be “with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2Th_2:9). The reproof given to Saul is no argument against the speaker being an evil spirit; we know the Devil can quote the Word of God to serve his purpose (Mat_4:6), and he only did to Saul what many a wicked man has done to a fellow-creature whom he has tempted and brought to ruin—taunted him with the fruit of his evil deeds. Neither to our mind does the fact that the Scripture narrative says Samuel spoke affect the argument, as Old Testament writers often simply describe things as they appear to be.
1Sa_28:23. “The bed.” Rather the divan—a cushioned bench, extending along the wall of the room still found in the East.
1Sa_28:24. “She hasted,” etc. “The cookery was performed with singular despatch.… But this was not uncommon (see Gen_18:7-8; Jdg_13:1; Luk_15:27-29), and is still practised in the tents of the Bedouins. A sheep or calf is brought and killed in the presence of the guests, and then, having been thrust into a large cauldron swung over the fire, the contents are taken out and placed on an immense tray, and served up amid a mass of roasted corn, boiled rice, and curdled or sour milk.” (Jamieson.)
1Sa_28:1-2 will be considered with the next chapter.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Sa_28:3-25
SAUL AND THE WOMAN OF ENDOR
I. The day of grace has its limits. It is a day. Our Lord spoke to the people of Jerusalem of a day, or a season, of God-given opportunity, which when He addressed them was gone to return no more (Luk_19:42). When the rich man “Lifted up his eyes … and said, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me,” the answer that came back to him was: “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed” (Luk_16:22-26). And some men by constant rejection of Divine commands and invitations create such a gulf on this side of death—a gulf only to be filled up by true repentance, for which, alas! they have no inclination.
“Try what repentance can; what can it not?
Yet what can it when one cannot repent?”
Saul was a man to whom God had given a grand opportunity to lead a noble and blessed life, by raising him to a high social position and endowing him with special gifts to discharge its duties; but he had now outlived the day of God’s gracious favour, and is an illustration of that most terrible of Divine threatenings: “Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh” etc. (Pro_1:24-28).
II. If men refuse the light of God’s truth they will be given over to the darkness of spiritual delusion. The word of God and human history unite in declaring that he who does not become God’s free servant will, in some form, be enslaved by Satan. Saul had long ago, by disobedience to God, laid himself open to such a dominion of the evil one as showed itself in his malice towards David, and now, in inspired language, his “deceived heart hath so turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor say. Is there not a lie in my right hand” (Isa_44:20), and he seeks counsel and comfort through the instrumentality of a witch. Those who rejected the Incarnate Son of God, and the truth taught by His apostles, became an easy prey to the false messiahs and prophets who followed (Mat_24:24; 1Jn_4:1), and Paul tells us that God would send to those who believed not the truth “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2Th_2:11). This has been the portion of the rejectors of God’s revealed will, both in ancient and modern times. If Saul had taken heed to the “Word of the Lord spoken by Samuel” when the prophet was alive, he would not have desired or thought it possible to speak to him now by means which God had declared to be “an abomination,” (Deu_18:10-12) and those who in modern times are willing to walk by the light of the same word spoken in “these last days by the Son of God” (Heb_1:1.) do not feel any wish or need to receive instruction or consolation by means of spirit-rapping, and so become the dupes either of false men or lying spirits. To all such the message of God is “Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. (Isa_50:11.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_28:3-5. Even the worst men may sometimes make head against some sins. Saul hath expelled the sorcerers out of the land of Israel, and hath forbidden magic upon pain of death. He that had no care to expel Satan out of his own heart, yet will seem to drive him out of his kingdom. That we see wicked men oppose themselves to some sins, there is neither marvel nor comfort in it. No doubt Satan made sport at this edict of Saul: what cares he to be banished in sorcery, while he is entertained in malice? He knew and found Saul his, while he resisted; and smiled to yield thus far unto his vassal. If we quit not all sins, he will be content we should either abandon or persecute some.
Where there is no place for holy fear, there will be place for the servile. The graceless heart of Saul was astonished at the Philistines, yet was never moved at the frowns of that God whose anger sent them, nor of those sins of his which procured them.—Bp. Hall.
1Sa_28:7. This consulting with the witch of Endor on the part of Israel’s anointed king was probably as nearly the sin against the Holy Ghost as it was possible for one under the old covenant, and before the Day of Pentecost, to commit.—Trench.
1Sa_28:14. And he stooped with his face to the ground. This is what the devil aimed at; and it is well observed that every one that consulteth with Satan worshippeth him, though he bow not. Neither doth that evil spirit desire any other reverence than to be sought unto.—Trapp.
1Sa_28:16-19. I could wonder to hear Satan preach thus prophetically if I did not know that as he was once a good angel, so he can still act what he was. While Saul was in consultation of sparing Agag, we shall never find that Satan would lay any block in his way—yea, then he was a prompt orator to induce him into that sin; now that it is past and gone he can lade Saul with fearful denunciations of judgment. Till we have sinned, Satan is a parasite; when we have sinned, he is a tyrant. What cares he to flatter any more when he hath what he would? Now, his only work is to terrify and confound, that he may enjoy what he hath won. How much better it is serving that Master, who, when we are most dejected with the conscience of evil, heartens us with inward comfort, and speaks peace to the soul in the midst of tumult!—Bp. Hall.
Shall thou and thy sons be with me; i.e. in the state of the dead. Hereby also this old deceiver would persuade Saul that the souls of all men, as well good as bad, go to the same place; seeking thereby to blot out of him all knowledge and apprehension of eternal life.—Trapp.
It is a grievous miscalculation which men make, when, conscious that life is passing on in the neglect of God and duty, they reckon within themselves a certain power which they imagine the approach of death will have to awaken their attention to religious duties, and to bring with it a disposition to attend to religious duties.… There is in such immediate prospects no necessary power to move the heart.… Did Saul’s approaching end awaken his conscience or soften his heart?—Miller.
1Sa_28:7-20. All human art has failed to portray, all human history has failed to record, a despair deeper and more tragic than his, who, having forsaken God and being of God forsaken, is now seeking to move hell since heaven is inexorable to him; and infinitely guilty as he is, assuredly there is something unutterably pathetic in that yearning of the disanointed king, now in his utter desolation, to change words once more with the friend and counsellor of his youth, and, if he must hear his doom, to hear it from no other lips but his.… I know not whether the world has anything to show at all so mournful as the spectacle which we have here: namely, the gradual breaking down under the wear and tear of the world, under the influence of unresisted temptations, of a lofty soul … Yet as many among us as are old enough to have been able to watch the development of lives, can hardly have failed to note on the one side some who, giving little promise at the commencement of their career, have yet afterwards risen into clearness of purpose and dignity of aim … while others of much rarer and ampler gifts … have contracted their aims and lowered their standard … What is the explanation … of the Jacobs, who, with many and most serious faults, are yet elevated and exalted into Israel princes with God; and of the Esaus; who, not without a certain native generosity, separate themselves off in the end from all which is highest, and truest, and best? The explanation is not far to seek.… Jacob, with all his faults … had yet a side on which he was turned towards God … which was exactly what Esau had not. Dwell a little, I beseech you on that word … a profane person.… (Heb_12:16)—one that is, without a fane, without a sanctuary in his soul; for whom all things were common, common as the outer court of some temple, which, unfenced and unguarded, is trodden and trampled on by the careless foot of every passer by.… Take, I beseech you, the lesson which the Sauls and Esaus have bequeathed us. Build on no good thing which you find in yourselves.… There is only one pledge for the permanence of any good thing that is in you—namely, that you bring it to God, and that you receive it back from God, with that higher consecration that He can give it: not now any more a virtue of this world, but a grace of the kingdom of heaven. Trench.
1Sa_28:21-25. Even in a sorceress, with all her deceptions and delusions, her wild and dreadful life, the true woman comes out at the mute appeal of misery. How kindly persuasive her words; how prompt her hospitable labours. We take leave of her, as she took leave of the ruined king, with a pitying heart.—Translator of Lange’s Commentary.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain 1Sa 28:15
1Sa 28:15
We have before us here a picture of a God-deserted man; one who has in former times had plenteous advantage and revelation, but who has forsaken God until God has forsaken him in turn, and who is now joined to his idols, seared against the penitent desire; one who presents that most appalling of all wrecks of ruin—a human soul consciously severed from the sympathy, and bereft of the favour, of the Divine.
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I. There is illustrated here the accelerating progress of evil. From the monarch on the eve of the battle of Jabesh-Gilead, to the monarch on the eve of the battle of Gilboa, what a fearful fall! Saul had suffered, because Saul had sinned. In his elevation he had forgotten God. Pride had stolen away his heart; he had been guilty of repeated and flagrant disobedience, and it is an easy descent to perdition when the bias of the nature is seconded by the strenuous endeavours of the will.
II. To every sinner there will come his moment of need. The worldling may prolong his revelry and accumulate his gain, but the hour will come when he will discover that the world is a cheat and that riches cannot always profit. Your hour of need may be nearer than you think. God’s mercy may still delay it, but it will come—the hour of trial, when sorrow breaks upon sorrow, like billows upon a desolate strand. Flee to the ever-willing Saviour now and you shall have no need to work some foul enchantment in order to wring direction from the sheeted dead.
III. This subject illustrates the terrible power of conscience. Saul’s greatest enemy was within—the wounded spirit, a more dreaded foe than all the Philistine armies; the dogs of remorse more furious than the dogs of war. And so it always is with the sinner. Christ alone can still the tempest with a word, whether it rage upon a Lake of Galilee or surge and swell on a poor sinner’s soul.
W. MORLEY Punshon, Sermons, p. 35.
I. We, in this world, are in a state of probation. (1) We are placed amongst a multitude of outward things which perpetually force us to choose whether we will act in this way or in that; and every one of these choices must agree with the holy and perfect will of God, or else be opposed to it. (2) The especial trial of us Christians consists in our being placed amongst these temptations under the personal influence of God the Holy Ghost, so that in every such distinct act of choice there is either a direct yielding, or a direct opposition to His secret suggestions.
II. The necessary consequences of every act of resistance to the Holy Spirit must, by a twofold process, carry us on towards final impenitence. For (1) by our moral constitution, the breaking through any restraint from evil, or the resisting any suggestion of good, carries us by an inevitable reaction somewhat farther than we were before in the opposite direction. (2) By resisting the Holy Spirit we cause Him to withdraw from us those influences for good in which is alone for us the spring and possibility of amendment. As a necessary consequence of such a withdrawal the progress of the forsaken soul towards final hardness is inevitable.
III. These, then, are the lessons from this fearful subject. (1) That we strive diligently to maintain such a temper of watchful observance for the motions of the Blessed Spirit as that we may never unawares resist or neglect any of His lightest intimations. (2) Let us learn not to trifle with any sin. (3) If through our exceeding feebleness we have fallen, let us learn to look straight to the cross of Christ and strive diligently in His strength to arise again.
S. Wilberforce, University Sermons, p. 222.
References: 1Sa 28:15.—M. Nicholson, Communion with Heaven, p. 206; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 1. 1Sa 29:6. with 1Sa 30:1, 1Sa 30:2.—F. W. Krummacher, David the King of Israel, p. 199; Parker, vol. vii., p. 52. 1Sa 29:8.—J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. ii., p. 256. 1Sa 30:6.—J. Van Oosterzee, Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 448; J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. ii., p. 195. 1Sa 30:6-8.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1606. 1Sa 30:13. —Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 72. 1Sa 30:20.—Ibid., My Sermon Notes, Genesis to Proverbs, p. 64. 1Sa 30:24.—Outline Sermons for Children, p. 43. 1Sa 31:4.—R. C. Trench, Sermons Preached in Ireland, p. 321.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Saul and the Witch of Endor
Saul and the Witch of Endor
1Sa_28:3-25 come from another document and interrupt the connexion, as will be seen if the account is read without them. In order of time their proper position is after 1 Samuel 30. In 1Sa_29:1 the Philistines are still in Aphek; in 1Sa_29:11 they advance to Jezreel, where we find them in 1Sa_28:4. In 1Sa_28:3-25 we have come to the eve of the battle, the account of which follows in 1 Samuel 31.
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2. Keeper of mine head] i.e. captain of my body-guard.
3. This v. is inserted to explain what follows. By familiar spirits (Heb. ob) some form of witchcraft is intended. In 1Sa_28:7 the woman is said to be 'the mistress of an ob.' In Lev_20:27 the ob is said to be in the man or woman: cp. 2Ki_23:24.
The wizards] From Lev_20:27 it is quite clear that this word denotes not the magician, but the spirit controlled by the magician. It is often joined to 'ob,' and means, etymologically, 'possessed of knowledge,' (i.e. of the future or the unseen): cp. our modern clairyoyants.
4. Shunem] in the plain of Jezreel, 4 m. from Mt. Gilboa. Gilboa] a mountain range on the E. side of the valley of Jezreel.
6. Dreams] These are always regarded in the Bible as one method of divine revelation: see Num_12:6. Urim] see on Exo_28:30. The ephod and the Urim had gone down with Abiathar to David (1Sa_23:6). Prophets] We may compare with this 1Sa_15:35. The action of Samuel was apparently followed by the rest of the prophets.
7. Endor] 4 m. S. of Mt. Tabor, and 10 m. from Mt. Gilboa.
11, 12. This woman would seem to have been what is now called a 'medium'; she sees (very possibly having become entranced) a figure, and Saul from her description at once concludes that it is Samuel. Very possibly Saul saw nothing at all; the words he heard may have come from the woman. Indeed, the LXX translator (who very probably knew as much about such matters as we do) wishing to mark that the words really came from the woman in her trance, spoke of her as a ventriloquist: cp. also Act_16:16, where the girl, liable to fall into a state of secondary consciousness, is said to have a 'spirit of divination.' To attribute words so spoken to a spirit either internal or external to the medium, was the only course possible to a Hebrew or Jewish narrator.
13. Gods] RV 'a god,' for Saul immediately said, 'What form is he of?' We must remember that Elohim in Hebrew is more general than the word 'god' is with us, and is, in fact, used generally for 'supernatural beings,' or even 'spirits': see Psa_82:6.
16. Is become thine enemy] LXX 'is on the side of thy neighbour.' This is based on a probable emendation. If 'neighbour' is right, it must be taken in the sense of 'rival' (which originally meant almost the same thing).
17. To him] LXX 'to thee.'
19. Moreover.. the Philistines] LXX. omits. To morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me] i.e. in Sheol, the place of departed spirits.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 7. Saul and the Witch at Endor
7. Saul and the Witch at Endor
CHAPTER 28
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1. David fully joined to Achish (1Sa 28:1-2)
2. Forsaken Saul (1Sa 28:3-6)
3. The command to seek a witch (1Sa 28:7)
4. Saul’s visit to Endor (1Sa 28:8-14)
5. Samuel’s solemn message (1Sa 28:15-20)
6. Saul’s despair and departure (1Sa 28:21-23)
Saul’s final plunge towards his awful end is the main topic of this chapter. Israel had adopted necromancy, asking the dead, and other occult and wicked practices of the Canaanitish nations. They had those who were possessed by demons; the so-called mediums of spiritism and the modern day Psychical research endeavors follow the same paths. Saul had cleared the land of these necromancers. Saul became frightened by the advancing Philistines. But when he asked the Lord there was no answer. Then in despair he sought the woman with the familiar spirit at Endor. Disguised he sneaked away to the woman. And he swears unto her in the Lord’s name to exempt her from all punishment in breaking the law. What presumption! He demands to see Samuel. The woman no doubt had the power to communicate with wicked spirits, who represented themselves as those who had died. It is the same in spiritualism. The messages which are transmitted through the women mediums in that cult do not emanate from the dead at all, but from lying spirits, who impersonate the dead. More than once has this been practically demonstrated. When this woman at Endor saw Samuel, she cried out in fear and at the same time she recognized the king, who told her not to be afraid. (It has been suggested that the word “Samuel” should be Saul in verse 12. The woman, it is said, recognized Saul, which would explain the second half of that verse. However, there is no reason why such a change should be made.) She had not expected the return of Samuel from the realms of death. Was it really Samuel or only an apparition? There can be no doubt whatever that it was Samuel who came up. It was by God’s own power and permission that he appeared to pronounce the final doom upon Saul. And what a message it was! “The LORD is departed from thee and become thine enemy;”--”the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand;”--”the LORD will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines.” Then came the announcement of his death and the death of his sons. “Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.” This means that they were to die. Perhaps the more correct rendering is given in the Septuagint version, which reads: “Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons with thee be fallen.”
Solemn is the record of Saul as given in 1Ch 10:13. “So Saul died for his transgressions which he committed against the LORD, even against the Word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.” Such was the condition and doom of the people’s king, before God’s king came into power. Here is a striking and significant type of the conditions on the earth before God’s King, our Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David and Israel’s King is enthroned. The kings of the earth and nominal Christendom are disobedient to the Word of God. They like Saul commit transgressions against the Lord and follow seducing spirits and doctrines of demons (1Ti 4:1). It is said that a number of European rulers have their own mediums and necromancers. But the kings of the earth defying God and His laws will be dragged lower still. The spirits of demons, working miracles, will yet go forth, during the closing years of this present age, and possess the kings of the earth and the whole world and gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, the battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:13-16). This is foreshadowed in Saul’s apostasy and in Saul’s end.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Consultation with the Witch
The Consultation with the Witch
v. 1. And it came to pass in those days, while David was still living in their country, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. It was a mustering of all the soldiers of the Philistine city-states that were fit for military duty; for the purpose was not a mere raid, but a campaign of conquest. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, since the circumstances were such as David saw before his eyes, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men, as a part of the Philistine army. This was the predicament, the danger, into which David had brought himself by his flight into the land of the Philistines.
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v. 2. And David said to Achish, Surely, since circumstances were of such a nature, thou shalt know what thy servant can do. David’s answer was purposely evasive and ambiguous, but Achish took it to promise the action which he required, whereas David’s answer really said, Conditions will determine what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head forever, captain of his body-guard.
v. 3. Now, Samuel was dead, 1Sa 25:1, and all Israel had lamented him, observing the customary mourning, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city, in the garden or court of his house, And Saul, in accordance with the very strict provisions of the Law, Exo 22:18; Lev 19:31; Lev 20:27; Deu 18:10-11, had put away those that had familiar spirits, the conjurers of the dead, and the wizards, the necromancers or speaking soothsayers, out of the land, in order to show himself jealous for God’s honor and thus to win Jehovah’s favor.
v. 4. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, they mustered their armies, and came and pitched in Shunem, on the western border of the Plain of Jezreel; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa, the mountain range in the territory of Issachar, in the southeastern part of the same plain, only a few miles from the Philistine camp.
v. 5. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, for their camp was plainly visible from his own, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled, due probably to a strong feeling which suddenly came upon him that he was forsaken of God.
v. 6. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams nor by Urim, that is, the Urim and Thummim of the high priest’s ephod, for Saul had either had anew ephod made after the escape of Abiathar, 1Sa 23:6, or there were, for a while, two high priests, Cf 2Sa 8:17; 2Sa 15:24-29; 1Ch 15:11, nor by prophets, to whom Saul now once more turned. It was no true inquiry, made with a humble heart, and therefore was ignored by the Lord.
v. 7. Then said Saul unto his servants, his hardened heart prompting him to turn to superstitious means forbidden by the Law, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, one in possession of an Ob, or spirit, one able to conjure up the dead, that I may go to her and inquire of her, to have the future disclosed to him. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor, a town about twelve miles north of Gilboa, on the northern slopes of the Little Hermon, almost ten miles southeast of Nazareth.
v. 8. And Saul disguised himself, by taking off all the garments and insignia indicating his rank, and put on other raiment; and he went, and two men with him, as his guides and his body-guard. And they came to the woman by night, partly to escape the notice of the Israelites themselves, partly that of the Philistine outposts. And he said, when they had reached the woman’s house, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, she was to uncover the future for him by making use of necromancy, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee.
v. 9. And the woman said unto him, since she suspected that this was a test, a trap to catch her and convict her, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, the order for their extirpation having been carried out with great rigor, and the wizards, out of the land; wherefore, then, layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die? Cf Lev 20:27. Evidently this was the manner in which necromancers were caught, when they agreed to a request as here made by Saul.
v. 10. And Saul sware to her by the Lord, this oath by the name of Jehovah again showing the hardening of his heart, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing, no harm would strike her.
v. 11. Then said the woman, satisfied that she was now safe, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel, the words indicating the common belief that the dead were in a place somewhere beneath the earth, under the ground, and that their souls could be summoned from there.
v. 12. And when the woman, after setting into operation her hellish arts, saw Samuel, for it was his form which the evil spirit in whose service she was, assumed, she cried with a loud voice, since she now saw clearly that her visitor must be the king himself; and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul.
v. 13. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid; for what sawest thou? Up till that time the vision was still hidden from Saul. And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods, a supernatural being, a spicitual form, ascending out of the earth.
v. 14. And he said unto her, What form is he of? He wanted a more exact description of the apparition. And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, the long prophet’s mantle having given him the information, as the apparition showed it. And he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself, in awe and reverence. Note: That this apparition could not have been the real Samuel is evident from the fact that those who die in the Lord are blessed, their souls are in the bliss of heaven, from henceforth, from the moment of death, and the devil has no jurisdiction over those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. One of Satan’s own evil spirits here had to serve the Lord as a messenger proclaiming to Saul his early destruction. Witchcraft, Spiritism, and other forms of superstition are still found in the world, and just as prominently as ever. Many a person who has left the true God seeks counsel and assistance in the dens of Spiritists, mediums, and other soothsayers. As faith goes out, superstition comes in. But what the diviners or clairvoyants state is not all falsehood and deception; for the devil is able, with God’s permission, to perform works which, to all appearances, are identical with miracles, and to uncover the future. Christians, therefore, will take the greatest care in fleeing from the temptation of consulting such soothsayers.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 large assembly of armies
host
large assembly of armies
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So you will know ... So I will
The word "so" shows that the speaker agrees with what the other person has just said. AT: "Yes, I will go with you so that you will know ... Very well, I will" (See: Connecting Words)
you will know what your servant can do
David probably wanted Achish to think that David would kill many Israelites, but "what your servant can do" could also mean that David was planning to kill Philistines instead. Try to translate so that the reader can see both of these possible meanings.
your servant
David speaks as if he is another person so that Achish will think David respects him. AT: "I" (See: Pronouns)
make you
The word "you" refers to David and so is singular. (See: Pronouns)
bodyguard
a person who protects another person
translationWords
Philistines
Israel
David
know
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 28:1 another war: Hostilities between Israel and the Philistines…
28:1 another war: Hostilities between Israel and the Philistines were now routine. In exchange for providing refuge, Achish expected David’s military involvement and cooperation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.