Pit of Despair
1 Samuel
28 brings us to the ultimate and deplorable rock-bottom for Saul. Saul goes to the witch of Endor for guidance
and advice. Isn’t it absolutely amazing
to whom people will turn when they actively turn their back on the Word of
God? Let’s just look at what Saul is
able to accomplish in this chapter – all the while not failing to forget that
at one point he was anointed by God to rule over His people and had the Spirit
of God within him.
Darkness
First,
Saul is walking in darkness. Yes, he is
walking in spiritual darkness; but quite literally he is walking in physical
darkness. He goes to the witch at night. Typically when people are doing something
under the cover of darkness it is because they know that what they are doing is
wrong and would bring shame upon them if people saw them doing it. Saul knows that what he is doing is wrong,
yet he still does it anyway. Saul has
abandoned all other avenues; rather than repent he is only left with that which
he knows is not pleasing to God.
Disguising His True Character
Next, Saul
puts on a disguise. However, by putting
on the disguise he is actually revealing his true character! Saul has never been a man of his word. He has never been able to stay loyal to
God. He has never been able to follow
God’s ways. He has never been able to
genuinely repent of his wrongdoings.
That is who Saul is. When Saul
puts on a disguise, he demonstrates himself to be the true deceiver that he has
always been in his heart. His disguise
is no disguise at all. His disguise only
serves to reveal the true darkness that rests in his heart.
Contagious Sin
Third,
Saul encourages another to break the law.
What’s worse from a cultural perspective is that the person he is
encouraging is a woman! Without getting
into the role of genders debate, we should all be able to realize that at this
time in history the men were typically assumed to be ones responsible for
keeping justice while the women were responsible with keeping the home. The role of the man was to keep his family in
line, to provide for the family, and to be the strong pillar of God in the
family and community alike. Yet we see
Saul absolutely shirking the duty on all accounts here. Saul isn’t the pillar of faith he should be. And as a man, he certainly isn’t helping to
keep the witch of Endor – a woman – from sinning against God’s ways. What is it Jesus says about those who lead
others into sin in Luke 17:2? It is
better for that person to have a millstone hung around their neck and to be
thrown into the sea.
Shame
Finally,
in his personal quest for selfish glorification, Saul absolutely brings shame
upon himself, his family, and his nation.
Saul’s primary concern from day one has been to make himself look
good. He takes credit for Jonathon’s
early victories. He tries to get rid of
the rival David in spite of God’s favor with David. He now seeks out a witch so he might know the
path to victory rather than humbly repenting to God and seeking God. In all these things Saul demonstrates that he
has the heart of a self-monger. The more
he tries to pile up glory for himself, the more that the verdict of shame waits
for him upon his demise. It is the fate
of all who turn their back on God and seek their own path.
Necromancy
I don’t
want to only focus on Saul in this passage.
I would like to take a look at this act of necromancy in this
chapter. I have heard several attempts
to try and rationalize this passage away, and I think those attempts need to be
discredited.
First, we
must be careful to not appear as though saying that necromancy is a legitimate
means for accomplishing one’s quest for truth.
We must read this passage in the light of God’s will, not necromancy. The only reason that this act of necromancy
occurs is because God has a message to deliver for Saul. The way that we can see this is the passage
is in the witch’s response to what occurs.
The witch herself seems to be surprised and in awe of what is
happening. The fact that the witch gives
us the impression that she doesn’t understand what is going on tells us that it
is not the necromantic art that is working but rather that there is something
beyond the witch that is at work. This
“something” is clearly God.
The second
thing that must be said is that this is clearly an act of God and not a
deception (or illusion) on the witch’s behalf.
This simply makes sense. If the
witch was in control, does it not follow that the witch would give a favorable
message to Saul? By giving an
unfavorable message the witch is not only risking losing business but risking
offending the king! If she were in
control, she would have not given the message that Samuel does in fact
give. This adds to the argument that
this act was from God’s hand, not anything the witch could have done through
some dark power.
Finally, I
feel the need to discredit the belief that this was actually some demonic
act. Some people feel the need to assert
that this is a demonic act because certainly God would have nothing to do with
bringing back the dead to give a message to someone living, right? But then again, Christians have no trouble
believing that God can bring back the dead.
We see it when Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:35-43). We see it when Jesus raises Lazarus in John
11. We see it when God raises Jesus
after the crucifixion (Matthew 28:1-10).
We see it with Peter and Dorcas (Acts 9:36-43). We see it with Paul and Eutychus (Acts
20:7-16). In fact, we even see it in the
Old Testament with Elijah and the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17-24). Now, I understand that each of these stories
involves a person literally coming back to life, and that is a very important
difference. So how about at the
transfiguration when Jesus meets Moses and Elijah? If God is powerful enough to restore life, is
it any stretch of the imagination that God could cause a spirit to come back
and give a message to the living? Does
this necessarily have to be a demonic event?
In fact, I
think there is even greater evidence to the fact that this is not a demonic
event. The message of Samuel is
true. Clearly the message is rooted in
truth, and we know that truth is rooted in God, not Satan. The facts that the message is true and God is
the master over death tell me that this act is rooted in God’s power alone.
The witch
of Endor is surprised when God takes over the event and His power is shown to
Saul. It’s God’s power, nobody else’s
power. God is supreme, God is capable of
using any means to reveal His truth.
Saul remains unrepentant. God
extends opportunity after opportunity to come to Him; how many are needed for
you to listen? How many opportunities
are needed for me?
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