96 – Witch of Endor
1 Samuel 28:1-25
The Philistines started their massive invasion of Israel. They entered the land and set up camp. Saul gathered his army and made preparations for war. His body shook with fear when he saw how large the Philistine army was.
He asked the Lord for guidance, but God didn’t talk to him. All was silent. There wasn’t a dream, or a priest, or a prophet that gave him a message from the Lord.
He wanted to talk to Samuel, but he was dead and Saul had removed everyone who claimed to be able to speak to the dead. Still he desperately wanted to talk to Samuel. He said to his servants, “Find a woman who can talk to the spirits of those who have died. I need to find out what’s going to happen.”
They said, “There is a woman at Endor. She says she can talk to the dead.”
That night Saul put on a disguise, took two servants, and went to the woman’s house. He said to her, “I want you to bring up a spirit for me.”
She said, “Are you setting a trap for me? You know King Saul will kill anyone who does that.”
He said, “Listen to me carefully. As sure as God lives, you’ll not suffer for doing this.”
She said, “Who do you want me to bring up from the dead?”
“Bring back Samuel. I want to talk to him.”
Suddenly the woman saw Samuel. She screamed and then she turned and yelled at the king. “You tricked me! You’re King Saul!”
He said, “Don’t worry about that. Now tell me, what do you see?”
“I see a spirit coming up from the ground.”
“What does he look like?”
“It’s an old man wearing a robe.”
Saul knew it was Samuel so he fell down with his face to the ground. The prophet said, “Why are you disturbing me? What do you want?”
“Oh, I’m in trouble and I don’t know what to do. God won’t talk to me, and the Philistines have invaded the land with a massive army. So I called on you. Please tell me what to do.”
Samuel said, “The Lord is now your enemy, so why do you think I’d help you? I’ve already told you what he was going to do. Well, he’s finally doing it. He’s ripping the kingship out of your hands and giving it to your neighbor David. You didn’t obey God. You refused to do what he told you to do. Therefore, tomorrow you and your sons will join me. Israel will be handed over to the Philistines.”
Saul was terrified when he heard this and stayed on the ground. He was weak because he hadn’t eaten anything for over a day. The woman said, “I’ll make some food. You need to regain your strength before you leave.”
At first the king refused, but his servants agreed with the woman. Finally, he got up and sat on the bed while she prepared the meal. She killed a fatted calf, cooked it, and baked some bread. Saul and his servants ate the meal, and then left into the night.
