God's Rejected Kings & Frightened Witches: 1 Samuel 28:7-19
As far as some of the more difficult aspects of this passage, there is the use of the word “god” (v. 13) for what appears to the mere instrument of this appearance. We could appeal to a very natural explanation. In the next verse, Saul asks her to clarify. When she responds, “An old man is coming up” (v. 14) it is most likely that what she characterized as a god meant something more like a great spirit, which, upon closer look, now was seen to be Samuel.
That is very plausible. But it just so happens that the plural form elohim also can mean “judges” or other similar authority figures, as it clearly does of kings in Psalm 82. So there was no clarification needed, the “robe” (v. 14) mentioned being a sign of some important office: such as that of a prophet.
But perhaps a greater difficulty is why God would allow this appearance of Samuel if divination is against his law (cf. Deut. 18:10-11). There are a few possibilities here. One is that God really permitted Samuel to speak. If he did, that is no exception for this woman. God may have mercifully spared her life in the moment, but the revelation would be for our sakes in the narrative. Note that as the Lord did not answer him previously (v. 6), so Samuel’s confirmation of that silence (vv. 17-18) did not give Saul what he wanted now in some blessed omen. On the other hand, as Matthew Henry adds,
“to think that any good souls would come up at the beck of an evil spirit, or that God, who had denied a man the benefit of his own institutions, would suffice him to reap any real advantage by a curse diabolical invention, was very absurd.”1
So it may also be an evil spirit who could do nothing but tell Saul the truth, the devil having no more interest in him, and all such spirits under the sovereign control of God anyway.
This is a difficult passage to find application to our lives, except perhaps to never attempt to discern God’s will of decree when we are determined to live outside of his will of command. This is ultimately what Saul was doing. What Samuel answered to him was no new information. God had taken his throne away and given it to the house of David (cf. 1 Sam. 15:28).
Notice Samuel’s words were almost saying, “Why are you bothering me Saul? We’ve been over this already!” The only thing added is, essentially, “And tomorrow you will die in battle.” So at least this one principle can apply to everyone: Do not seek out God as if he were an impersonal fortune. Seek him as one to be feared, trusted, obeyed, and honored.
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1. Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 432.
