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.
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