I wanted to write about David’s loss of faith when he went over to the Philistines. However, 1 Samuel 28 is in between the 2 chapters which discusses David’s lack of faith to go to the Philistines. I might decide to compress the 2 chapters together in a future post. Right now, I just feel that I’m more interested in writing about Saul’s demonic encounter with a hag for the moment. I felt this is one of the most interesting aspects of Saul’s wicked life–this incident also proved that he wasn’t saved.
I was thinking about the many views of Saul’s vision of Samuel in 1 Samuel 28. I remembered back when I still read Chick Publications that the tract The Nervous Witch has one page where Samuel was supposedly, really called back. Got Questions also thinks that God actually permitted it at one point to finalize the doom of Saul.
The passage does not give any indication that the apparition the witch of Endor saw was anything other than Samuel himself. We know that the medium was not producing an illusion because she screams in surprise when she sees Samuel (1 Samuel 28:12). Also, the spirit rising from the earth is called “Samuel.” The text does not say that the spirit “appeared to be Samuel” or that the medium “thought it was Samuel”; the text directly refers to the spirit as “Samuel.” Further, the spirit spoke the truth; the message Saul received was accurate.
The witch of Endor was likely expecting to hear from her “familiar spirit” (a demon) during the séance, and that explains her startled reaction to seeing Samuel. It seems that, in this case, God allowed Samuel to return in order to give King Saul the news of his coming defeat and death.
The story of the witch of Endor summoning Samuel does not imply that séances are effective in conjuring the dead or that witches or mediums genuinely speak with the spirits of dead individuals. When a person dies, his or her soul is taken to either heaven or hell. There is no wandering the earth, conveying messages to the living, or making return visits (see Luke 16:19–31). Any claim of contact with departed loved ones is a demonic deception (see 2 Corinthians 11:14–15).
God condemned necromancy, channeling, and the work of mediums, and those who practiced such things in ancient Israel were to be put to death (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10–12). In Saul’s case, God allowed Samuel to return to pronounce a final judgment on the disobedient king. Saul, who had refused to listen to Samuel when the prophet was alive, sinfully sought a word from Samuel after he was dead. And that was part of why Saul was judged (1 Chronicles 10:13–14).
I remembered it when the witch was actually scared because it actually worked. There was a time after I got saved when I still felt that the souls of the damned could still temporarily cause trouble and then go back to Hell after that. Though, that isn’t scriptural now, is it?
Here’s Matthew Henry’s commentary regarding the matter:
O, says the woman, I saw gods (that is, a spirit) ascending out of the earth; they called angels gods, because spiritual beings. Poor gods that ascend out of the earth! But she speaks the language of the heathen, who had their infernal deities and had them in veneration. If Saul had thought it necessary to his conversation with Samuel that the body of Samuel should be called out of the grave, he would have taken the witch with him to Ramah, where his sepulchre was; but the design was wholly upon his soul, which yet, if it became visible, was expected to appear in the usual resemblance of the body; and God permitted the devil, to answer the design, to put on Samuel’s shape, that those who would not receive the love of the truth might be given up to strong delusions and believe a lie. That it could not be the soul of Samuel himself they might easily apprehend when it ascended out of the earth, for the spirit of a man, much more of a good man, goes upward, Eccl. 3:21 . But, if people will be deceived, it is just with God to say, “Let them be deceived.’’ That the devil, by the divine permission, should be able to personate Samuel is not strange, since he can transform himself into an angel of light! nor is it strange that he should be permitted to do it upon this occasion, that Saul might be driven to despair, by enquiring of the devil, since he would not, in a right manner, enquire of the Lord, by which he might have had comfort. Saul, being told of gods ascending, was eager to know what was the form of this deity, and in what shape he appeared, so far was he from conceiving any horror at it, his heart being wretchedly hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Saul, it seems, was not permitted to see any manner of similitude himself, but he must take the woman’s word for it, that she saw an old man covered with a mantle, or robe, the habit of a judge, which Samuel had sometimes worn, and some think it was for the sake of that, and the majesty of its aspect, that she called this apparition Elohim, a god or gods; for so magistrates are styled, Ps. 82:1 . Saul, perceiving, by the woman’s description, that it was Samuel, stooped with his face to the ground, either, as it is generally taken, in reverence to Samuel, though he saw him not, or perhaps to listen to that soft and muttering voice which he now expected to hear (for those that had familiar spirits peeped and muttered, Isa. 8:19 ); and it should seem Saul bowed himself (probably by the witch’s direction) that he might hear what was whispered and listen carefully to it; for the voice of one that has a familiar spirit is said to come out of the ground, and whisper out of the dust, Isa. 29:4 . He would stoop to that who would not stoop to the word of God.
Years later, another Presbyterian commentator Vernon McGee would also wrote on this matter which I dare to agree on a huge scale:
In Scripture we need to understand that only Christ ever communicated with the dead. He alone can speak to the dead. This man Saul had been abandoned by God. As far as he is concerned, heaven is silent. And so Saul turns to hell. Now did Samuel appear to Saul? Several explanations have been offered. There are those who dismiss the entire incident as a fraud. They do not believe anything about it was genuine. They say the witch was a ventriloquist and pout on the whole show. I think she was a fraud too, but because she was frightened as Saul at what happened, we can’t rule out the supernatural.
At first, it seemed to be Samuel but we need to consider that demons can also speak the truth. Satan can also speak the truth. Satan and his demons know the truth and they can twist it. Remember Satan in the case of Job’s story was actually told a partial truth that God did put a hedge around Job and that God did bless the man abundantly in the midst of his damning false accusation. Satan can tell the truth and so can his demons. A con artist can tell the truth but that doesn’t make him trustworthy. True, “Samuel” here said that God has become Saul’s enemy. Saul was obviously a degenerate man judged by his actions and his lack of respect for the religious ordinances. Arthur W. Pink spoke badly of Saul in his two books Eternal Security and The Antichrist. Saul was pictured as a type of person who was never saved and as a type of the Antichrist. The statement in 1 Samuel 28:19 that includes “you and your sons will be with me.” is a lie. How can the godless Saul be with godly Samuel or his godly son Jonathan? 1 Chronicles 10:13 even says that Saul died for his transgression, hinting at his degenerate character. Saul is, in fact, a man of Satan and I had no reason whatsoever to believe that he was ever a man of God. God would sometimes anoint wicked rulers to punish a hardheaded nation and Saul would be proof of that.
I would be among in the crowd to believe that this “Samuel” here was just a demon impersonating Samuel. Just remember that the Bible also calls John the Baptist as “Elijah” but they are two different people. 2 Samuel 21:19 and 1 Chronicles 20:5 has some issues. 2 Samuel 21:19 says Elhanan slew Goliath whereas the KJV uses italics to try and bridge the gap. However, it seems to be that without the italic–Lahmi the brother of Goliath was called Goliath as a metaphor. It’s just like somebody would call a person a Charles H. Spurgeon or a John Gill even when both godly men are dead and rejoicing in Heaven. Judas Iscariot is also called the son of perdition in John 17:12 and Satan was called Day-Star (Isaiah 14:12) which the KJV uses the word “Lucifer” to make a clearer distinction. We know that Satan is just a morning star while Revelation 22:16 calls Jesus the “bright morning star” as an important distinction. So, again, why should I even want to believe that Samuel actually was brought up? Occultism is rarely right and when it does–God permitted it. Then again, if God permitted Samuel to speak then I don’t have a problem with it either. Just that God sometimes permits occultism to seldom give a right prediction to test the hearts of the people.
Just remember Deuteronomy 13:1-2 says that God will allow it. Just think God seldom allows false prophets to make the right prediction. The false prophet Balaam prophesied the rise of the Star out of Jacob (Numbers 21:21-25). Caiaphas would later prophesy the death of Christ. Yet, these guys were men of Satan. The same can go that a demonic impersonation of Samuel could still be right about Saul’s death. Yet, these evil spirits and false prophets are like broken clocks–they can be right about something but they shouldn’t be trusted.
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