1 Samuel 28

28:1 another war: Hostilities between Israel and the Philistines were now routine. In exchange for providing refuge, Achish expected David’s military involvement and cooperation.

28:3-14 Saul consulted the dead, a practice forbidden by God’s law (see Lev 20:27; Deut 18:9-11).28:3 banned from the land: Saul had either expelled or killed most mediums, or he had merely outlawed the practice of necromancy (see study note on 28:9).

28:4 Shunem, a border town in the territory of Issachar (Josh 19:18), overlooked the valley of Jezreel. • Mount Gilboa is at the east end of the valley of Jezreel. The mountain took its name from a nearby village.

28:6 refused to answer: Earlier, Saul had consulted the Lord by sacred lots with mixed results (14:36-42). God’s refusal to speak was a sign of his judgment (14:37; Lam 2:9; Ezek 7:26; Amos 8:11-12; Mic 3:6-7).

28:7 Excluded from God’s counsel, Saul resorted to illegitimate methods for finding God’s will. Saul had earlier prohibited the occult practice that he now engaged in himself (28:3). • Endor was on the boundary between Israel and Philistia; the area near Israel’s border was probably a safer location for a banned practice.

28:9 outlawed: Literally cut off, suggesting that Saul might have had most of the mediums executed.

28:12 It is not clear why seeing Samuel caused the woman to recognize Saul.

28:13 Saul asked the medium to describe what she saw that caused her to scream. She described a divine being, a god (Hebrew ’elohim) coming up. Perhaps she observed a human figure with a godlike or angelic appearance, or her use of the term god might reflect a pagan belief that a person becomes a god—a spirit possessing supernatural abilities—after death.

28:15 God has left me: The same Hebrew term is used in 16:14 and Judg 16:20. • won’t reply by prophets or dreams: Cp. 1 Sam 28:6.

28:16 Saul’s enemy was not David but the Lord himself.

28:17 torn the kingdom from you: See 15:28.

28:18 you refused: Samuel’s message to Saul had not changed (cp. 15:19).

28:19 here with me: In Sheol, the abode of the dead (cp. 2:6, “the grave”; see also Num 16:30-33; Job 17:1-16; Ps 49:11; Rev 1:18).

28:24 fattening a calf . . . dough . . . bread: This meal was a major undertaking, a model of hospitality (cp. Gen 18:5-7). This meal the medium shared with Saul recalls the fine meal Samuel had shared with Saul (1 Sam 9:22-24) before he anointed Saul as king. That meal with God’s prophet marked the beginning of Saul’s kingship. This meal with a condemned spiritist came shortly before his death.