1 Samuel 28

This chapter in the latter part of 1 Samuel depicts the events immediately preceding Saul's final battle. In 1 Samuel 27, David fled from Saul and placed himself under the protection of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath; this chapter opens with the Philistines preparing for war against Israel.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Achish tells David that he must go out to battle with him and says he will make him "keeper of mine head" (his bodyguard).
• Verses 3–6 Samuel has already died and been buried in Ramah, and Saul has earlier put away those that had familiar spirits (mediums said to call up the spirits of the dead) and the wizards (male sorcerers). The Philistines encamp at Shunem, and Saul at Gilboa. Afraid, Saul inquires of the LORD but receives no answer, whether by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.
• Verses 7–14 Saul disguises himself and goes by night with two men to the woman with a familiar spirit at Endor, asking her to bring up Samuel. The woman realizes that her visitor is Saul and says that an old man covered with a mantle is coming up.
• Verses 15–19 Samuel tells Saul that because he disobeyed by not executing the LORD's fierce wrath upon Amalek, the kingdom has been given to David, and he foretells that tomorrow Saul and his sons will be with him.
• Verses 20–25 Saul, who has eaten nothing all day, collapses. At the urging of the woman and his servants he eats a calf and unleavened bread that she prepares, and Saul and his men depart that night.

Key Verses

• 1 Samuel 28:6 "the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets" — Saul's plight, cut off from any divine answer, prompts him to seek out the medium.
• 1 Samuel 28:18 "Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD" — this connects to the Amalekite episode in 1 Samuel 15.
• 1 Samuel 28:19 "to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me" — this foretells the deaths of Saul, Jonathan, and others at the Battle of Gilboa in 1 Samuel 31.

People and Places

• Saul
• Samuel
• David
• Philistines
• The medium of Endor — the woman with a familiar spirit who brought up Samuel at Saul's request.
• Achish — the Philistine king of Gath.
• Ramah — Samuel's hometown and burial place.
• Shunem and Gilboa — the places where the Philistines and the Israelites, respectively, encamped.
• Endor — the town where the medium lived.

Points for Reflection

• Was the figure who appeared truly Samuel? The text states, "And Samuel said to Saul." Two views have coexisted throughout church history: that the real Samuel appeared by God's permission (some cite the woman's great alarm in verse 12 as evidence), and that the apparition was a deception by an evil spirit impersonating Samuel. The question has been settled less by formal denominational pronouncements than by the differing judgments of individual commentators.
• Consulting those that have familiar spirits is forbidden in Leviticus 19:31, Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:10–11, yet Saul sought out the very people he himself had expelled. 1 Chronicles 10:13–14 cites this act as a reason for Saul's death.
• The word "gods" in verse 13 translates the Hebrew Elohim. The text does not describe in detail the nature of the afterlife or the powers of the medium.
• The chapter is not directly quoted in the New Testament.

In the Korean Church

The chapter serves as a sermon text warning against reliance on mediums or on shamanistic practices such as fortune-telling and gut (shamanic rituals), as well as in sermons on Saul's disobedience and downfall.