Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 1 Samuel 28:7 Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Samuel 28:7 Then Saul said to his servants, "Find for me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], so that I may go to her and ask her advice." His servants said to him, "There is a woman who is a medium at En-dor." |
Subject: How was Samuel called from the grave? |
Bible Note: The most prevalent view among orthodox commentators is that there was a genuine appearance of Samuel brought about by God himself. The main piece of evidence favoring this interpretation is 1 Chronicles 10:13-14: "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the LORD." The Septuagint reading of this text adds: "Saul asked counsel of her that had a familiar spirit to inquire of her, and Samuel made answer to him." Moreover, the medium must not have been accustomed to having her necromancies work, for when she saw Samuel, she cried out in a scream that let Saul know that something new and different was happening. That night her so-called arts were working beyond her usual expectations. Is Samuel's statement to Saul in 1 Samuel 28:15 proof that the witch had brought Samuel back from the dead? The message de-livered by this shade or apparition sounds as if it could well have been from Samuel and from God. Therefore, it is entirely possi-ble that this was a real apparition of Samuel. As to whether Samuel appeared physically, in a body, we conclude that the text does not suggest that he did, nor does Christian theology accord with such a view. But there can be little doubt that there was an ap-pearance of Samuel's spirit or ghost. The witch herself, in her startled condition, claimed that what she saw was a "god" ( loh m, 1 Sam 28:13) coming up out of the earth. The most probable interpretation of this term loh m is the "spirit" of a deceased person. This implies an authentic appearance of the dead, but one that did not result from her witchcraft. Instead, it was God's final means of bringing a word to a king who insisted on going his own way. Those who have argued for a psychological impression face two objections. The first is the woman's shriek of horror in 1 Samuel 28:12. She would not have screamed if the spirit had been merely Saul's hallucination, produced by psychological excitement. The second objection is that the text implies that both the woman and Saul talked with Samuel. Even more convincing is the fact that what Samuel is purported to have said turned out to be true! As for the demon impersonation theory, some of the same objections apply. The text represents this as a real happening, not an impersonation. Of course Satan does appear as "an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14), but there is no reason to suppose that this is what is going on here. The conclusion is that God allowed Samuel's spirit to appear to give Saul one more warning about the evil of his ways. Source: Kaiser, Walter C. Jr, et. al. Hard Sayings of the Bible |