1 Samuel 28:11 Commentary and Bible Study

The Scripture forbids any attempt to contact the dead, or to consult with those who have familiar spirits or with wizards (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6). The law of Moses imposed the death penalty on those who had familiar spirits (Leviticus 20:27). This passage is unique in Scripture and it is hard for us to know exactly what is taking place. As we read through this passage, God seems to intervene in a mysterious way. The woman asks who she is to bring up, and she is told to bring up Samuel, and Saul calls for her to bring up Samuel. She has no power to bring up Samuel, and yet it is said in the narrative that Samuel appeared, or some sort of form appeared, or something that could be interpreted as Samuel. The description is very vague: an old man covered with a mantle, and that is presumed by Saul to be Samuel. Now there has always been a debate about whether this medium, it was really Samuel who appeared, or whether the apparition that appeared was somehow generated by Satan. Great expositors down history have settled on either side. No, say some, it couldn't possibly have really been Samuel, because God then would have been participating himself in something that he had forbidden, and allowing Saul to get instruction through a medium, and to communicate with the dead and with Samuel of all people. But it could be that the narrative is to be taken absolutely literally and that, in some miraculous way, Samuel himself really was raised up. Those who say, it couldn't possibly be the devil: they bring together the biblical evidence that shows that Satan cannot be incarnate in any form, and so it was unlikely to be him. And they point out that the record is completely straightforward and historical, and leaves us with the impression that it was none other than Samuel. It doesn't leave a lot of room to the interpreter to explain away the fact that it was Samuel who appeared. So we are obliged to take this event literally.The woman doesn't appear to be the instrument that brings Samuel up. As you read the record, ‘Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.’ And abruptly we read, ‘And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice.’ The Hebrew could be equally rendered ‘she screamed’. When she saw the apparition, she didn't understand – maybe she was a phony and she had never actually seen a real apparition; maybe she was demon possessed, and could in a weird way carry out occult practices. But that is not what happened here. She was startled and astonished and horrified. And in a moment she screamed, and she was also given to be aware that it was Saul, who was before her, and she is afraid for a different reason also. She fears that this has been a trick to unmask her as a medium. But he tries to calm her fears.‘And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.’ The Hebrew doesn't actually say gods. It's a word which could be translated gods, or spirits or ghosts or phantoms. Really, she seems to be screaming out, I have seen something unearthly, supernatural, if you like, and she is terrified.And he says to her, ‘What form is he of? And she said, An old 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.’ That's very interesting. It doesn't necessarily mean that Saul gathered from her description that it was Samuel. It can equally mean in the Hebrew that Saul peering, perceived for himself that it was Samuel. He hadn't seen the apparition up to this point, but now it became clear to him that it was Samuel, somehow bought by God (if indeed it is correct to see that that is what happened). And once he perceived this or saw him for himself, he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself, and he appears now to be kneeling, and the king is kneeling throughout.