1 Samuel Chapter 28

2025-10-17 — 1 Samuel 28

The Long Shadow of Silence


1. A Night Heavy with Fear (verses 1–5)

The Philistine armies mass in the fertile Jezreel Valley. Saul, who once rallied Israel with Spirit-fueled courage (cf. 1 Sam 11), now trembles at Shunem’s campfires. Excavations at nearby Megiddo and Beth-shan show layers of Philistine pottery from this period—tangible reminders that the threat was real, not merely literary.

The narrator’s first theological note is stark: “When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart” (New International Version). The Hebrew verb for “terrified” (חרד, ḥārad) carries the sense of shaking to the core. Fear is the seedbed in which poor spiritual choices often grow.

Cross-references
• Psalm 27:1–3 — a contrasting picture of fear answered by trust.
• Isaiah 31:1 — warning against turning to human solutions when danger looms.


2. Heaven’s Silence (verse 6)

Saul inquires of the Lord by three traditional channels—dreams, the Urim, and prophets—but “the Lord did not answer him.” The Urim and Thummim (small stones kept in the priestly breastpiece) functioned as lots; archaeologists have found comparable objects in Mari and Nuzi archives. Yet even the sacred dice stay silent.

The silence is not divine indifference; it is judicial. Earlier devotionals (see entries on chapters 13 and 15) traced Saul’s long drift from obedience. Silence is often God’s last word to hearts that will not listen.

Cross-references
• Proverbs 1:24–28 — wisdom withheld from the unresponsive.
• Amos 8:11 — famine of hearing the words of the Lord.


3. A Forbidden Road (verses 7–10)

“Seek a woman who is a medium,” Saul orders. The Hebrew word for medium is אוֹב (ʾōb), literally “a hollowed-out skin” or “spirit-pit,” evoking the low moaning used to summon the dead. Irony rings loud: Saul himself had expelled such practitioners (Deuteronomy 18:10–12 was clear), yet he now seeks what he once banned.

Western readers may picture a spooky séance. In ancient Near Eastern culture, consulting the dead was often a family affair, done at ancestral tombs. Clay plaques from Ugarit show dining scenes with the departed—an attempt to secure guidance or blessing. Saul’s act is not only disobedient; it is an assault on Israel’s unique trust in the living God.


4. The Medium of Endor (verses 11–14)

Disguised, Saul asks for Samuel. The woman sees “elohim coming up out of the earth.” Elohim here is plural in form but can mean a single “divine being.” Many scholars note the text’s matter-of-fact tone; the writer does not dwell on technique, only on result. God allows the dead prophet to speak—an act of sovereignty, not endorsement of necromancy.

Patristic voices differ:
• Justin Martyr and Augustine read it as a demonic imitation.
• Tertullian, Aquinas, Calvin, and most modern commentators accept that it is truly Samuel, because the message is wholly consistent with earlier prophecy and because the narrator says so without qualification.

Either way, the encounter underscores Saul’s isolation. The prophetic voice he silenced in life now condemns him from beyond the grave.


5. Samuel’s Final Oracle (verses 15–19)

“Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” The Hebrew idiom literally reads, “made me tremble,” hinting that even righteous Samuel dislikes being called from Sheol. His message contains three parts:
1. The Lord has turned away.
2. The kingdom is torn out of Saul’s hand.
3. Tomorrow Saul and his sons will be with Samuel—dead.

The phrase “with me” is sobering. Death is the great leveler; king and commoner share the same dust. Samuel’s words echo earlier judgments (15:26–28) and align with 1 Chronicles 10:13, which later summarizes Saul’s death as the result of consulting a medium.

Literary Device
The narrative brims with tragic irony: Saul, desperate for guidance, receives only confirmation of doom. The chiastic structure of Samuel’s speech (past rejection → present silence → future defeat → death → defeat restated) tightens the noose.


6. Bread of Mercy in a Dark House (verses 20–25)

Saul collapses “full length on the ground.” The medium, whom he planned to use, now becomes caregiver—cooking a fatted calf and offering unleavened bread. In Near Eastern hospitality, feeding a guest sealed a temporary covenant of peace. Even here, God sprinkles common grace through an unlikely servant.

Spiritual Application
1. When we break God’s boundaries, we often end up relying on the very people or systems we once condemned.
2. God’s mercy may find us in dark places, but it does not cancel consequences.


7. Threads in the Tapestry of Biblical Theology

• Kingship and Covenant: Saul’s tragedy sets the stage for David’s ascent and for the promise of a better King whose communion with the Father would never be broken (Luke 22:42).
• Life, Death, and Revelation: Scripture forbids necromancy not because the dead cannot speak, but because God alone governs revelation (Isaiah 8:19–20). Christ, not ancestral spirits, is the Word made flesh.
• Divine Silence: At the cross, Jesus enters the deepest silence (“My God, why have you forsaken me?”) so that we might never be shut out.


8. Voices from Church History

• John Chrysostom: “Saul’s ruin began in small disobedience and ended where no prophet could help him.”
• Martin Luther: “When Scripture is closed to us, we must repent, not run elsewhere for light.”
• C. S. Lewis (in The Silver Chair): “The lesson is, when Aslan is silent, wait, keep to the signs already given.”


9. A Hymn for Meditation

“God Moves in a Mysterious Way” — William Cowper, 1774
Its theme of unseen providence fits a chapter where God speaks even through forbidden channels to accomplish His purpose.


Prayer

Lord of light and truth,
Guard our hearts from fear that rushes us into forbidden paths.
Teach us to wait when the heavens seem silent,
to trust the words already spoken,
and to seek no voice above Yours.
May the stillness that once judged Saul become, for us, a holy hush
in which we hear Your gentle whisper.
Through Jesus, the true and living Word, Amen.

Narrated version of this devotional on 1 Samuel Chapter 28