Some Actions Have Ramifications

Read 2 Samuel 11-12

2 Samuel 12:10  "Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife."

Some commentaries (cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary) suggest that Bathsheba was a gold digger who sought to entice David, but that is not necessary to understand the story.  It is just as likely, perhaps more likely, that David did not literally see Bathsheba unclothed, but knew what we was doing, enclosed on the roof.  Jerusalem was not that big, and David may have noticed Bathsheba before, and when a messenger comes and invites you to an audience with the king, you must come.  So Bathsheba may very well have been an unwilling adulteress.  David manages to have her husband killed, marries Bathsheba and keeps the whole thing discreet.  But the Lord was displeased, and the ramifications of these events, even though David would ultimately repent and be forgiven, would nonetheless lead to years of misery to David.  As Nathan the prophet would say, the sword will not leave David's house for the rest of his life.  David's family would break his heart for years to come.  That leaves us with the question; are there sins so severe that people suffer ramifications from them even after repentance and forgiveness?  In this case at least, it would seem so.

The Bible never explains how this worked, how the actions of David in his generation would influence the generation beyond.  I know that one theory is that a family's emotional interactions and relationship act like a system and can move from one generation to the next (Cf. Generation to Generation by Rabbi Edwin Friedman).  Another is the spiritual interactions of humans, angels and demons, and I don't propose to really understand that.  Unfortunately, David would face years of trouble from his family.  I believe that a family therapist could have a field day with the Old Testament, and the life of David is a great example of this.  Regardless, this episode with Bathsheba warns us that our actions, both against and in obedience to the will of God, impact others around us, and maybe even those yet to come.  Even in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, Solomon's mother is Bathsheba and the father is David, but it still mentions that Bathsheba was married to Uriah the Hittite.

Did Saul Go to Heaven or Hell?

Refer to 1 Samuel 28

We're starting the narrative from verse 11 through verse 16.

¹¹  Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 

¹²  When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" 

¹³  And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth."
¹⁴  So he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.
¹⁵  Now Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do."
¹⁶  Then Samuel said: "Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy?

 There are a couple of theories (or more) about this whole strange episode.  One, is that this is a demonic spirit who is impersonating Samuel and has arrived to trouble Saul further before this great battle against the Philistines.  The other theory is that the Lord, who normally does not allow interaction between those on earth and those spirits who have departed, has granted a rare exception and that this is literally the spirit of Samuel, coming not in obedience to the call of the spiritist but on command of the Lord, to address Saul one last time.  This is significant because it speaks of the destiny of Saul, of others and of the grace of the Lord even in this harsh interaction. 

According to the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, a medium, in Hebrew, means literally "ghostwife" although the medium could be either male or female.  The notes in this Study Bible consider the spirit to be Samuel, not an impersonator.  Note that according to Deuteronomy 18:10-12, such contact was forbidden by the Lord and that Saul, earlier in his career as king of Israel, had chased out all mediums from Israel.  This one, at the scenic location of En Dor, managed to remain in secret, until Saul came, not to chase her out of the country, but to ask for her help in communicating with the spirit of the prophet Samuel.  She attempts contact, but quickly loses control of the situation when the figure of an elderly man arises out of the earth.

 So if this was really the great prophet Samuel, and not some demonic impersonator, then Samuel truly gave Saul one last word from the Lord.  It was mostly not good news.  He had lost the kingdom, he would lose the battle and he and his sons would be dead by this time tomorrow.  In verse nineteen the savage words are spoken:  "And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me."  Saul faced the dreadful prospect of leaving into the night and facing a battle that he knew he would not survive, but it also begs the question, did Saul end up in heaven or in hell?  He followed the Lord, but did so very poorly with one act of severe disobedience after another, but he would be with Samuel.  So where was Samuel that his spirit would arise out of the earth?  If I'm reading Luke 16:19-31 correctly, he was in a place called "Abraham's Bosum" which was a holding place for the spirits of those saved as they awaited the coming of Christ, who claimed them and took them to heaven during or after His Resurrection.  In which case Saul, for all his disobedience, did not lose his salvation.  That brings me a certain comfort.  Hebrews 6:4-6 seems to indicate that it is possible to lose one's salvation, but compared to this strange story in the Old Testament, I don't think that it is easy.  Saul fell far away from the Lord, and it got him into terrible trouble, but when all was said and done, God's grace still was enough for him, and perhaps for a lot of other people like him who struggle in their walk with Christ.