Title: Bypassing God

Text: 1 Samuel 28:1-25

Introduction:
May mga pagkakataon ba na hindi na kayo nagpapaalam at gumagawa ka na lang ng sarili mong
diskarte at decision sa iyong pamilya?
Noong bata ako at hanggang ngayon madalas ganun ang nangyayari sa akin. . . impulsiveness. . .

Need:
Sa buhay natin hindi ganito ang gusto ng Diyos sa atin. . .

Main Idea:
The point of this chapter is not that necromancy and divination or the work of mediums is
impossible, but that it is to be avoided at all costs by God’s people because it is an assault on God’s
wisdom and authority and love, and is therefore in the category of idolatry and rebellion and
abomination.
God wanted us to trust God. . .

Background:
Verse 1-2 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish
said to David, “Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.” 2 David said to
Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Very well, I
will make you my bodyguard for life.”

(:1-2)  The Philistines had invaded Israel (v.1): And in Saul's mind, he not only had to face the
Philistines, he had to face David as well.  Perhaps Saul even thought that the invasion was an attempt
to overthrow his government so that David could rule Israel on behalf of the Philistines.- Achish
impressed by David’s exploits and skill in warfare
- Achish determined to secure David’s loyalty and keep better tabs on him
This posed a very serious dilemma for David, because it meant that he would be fighting against his
own people, the very people whom he had been appointed to serve as king by God.
- Achish requires David and his men to fight with the Philistines in upcoming battle against Israel
The Philistine king demanded that David fight (v.2): (3)           David promised to serve bravely
(v.2a): To kill any doubt in King Achish's mind, David promised to serve courageously, assuring the
king that he would witness just how bravely he and his men could fight.
- Achish makes David his own personal bodyguard for life

David was promoted as the king's bodyguard (v.2b): There is no doubt what King Achish understood
the response to mean, for he immediately promoted David and his men to be the king's own personal
bodyguard.  As will be seen below, the Lord intervened and worked out the events so that David did
not have to fight against the Israelites.

But the question arises, would he have fought against his own people?

He had already jeopardized the Lord's blessing upon his life by deserting the promised land
and by living among the unbelieving Philistines for the last year.  Was David about to rebel even more
against the Lord by fighting against the Lord's people?  

·         If he refused to stand by the side of King Achish and fight for the Philistines, David would have
been risking immediate execution by the king. As a result of leaving the promised land and going to
live among the Philistines, David had gotten himself into a predicament that was humanly impossible
to escape.

        Only the sovereign power and working of God could deliver him.
Dahil sa alliance nila na ito (actually it’s more a job for David)

I. Bypassing to Trust God (3-6)

1. (3-5) Saul’s fear at the attack from the Philistines.

3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city.
And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 4 The Philistines assembled
and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at
Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

a.  Samuel had died: Samuel’s death was originally reported in 1 Samuel 25:1. Here, the fact is
mentioned again to emphasize the spiritual vacuum left by Samuel’s departure.

No Judge to guide since they want a king. . .

b.  Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land: To his credit, Saul obeyed
the commands in the Mosaic Law to cast out those who practiced occultist arts. God commanded
that mediums and spiritists (those who either can or claim to contact the dead and spirit beings)
should have no place among His people in passages such as Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 27 and
in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Saul did this in his earlier days when he was still influenced by Samuel’s
leadership.

Leviticus 19:31

31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean
by them: I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12

9 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow
the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns
his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets
omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the
dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these
abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you.
Moses mentions eight spiritist activities: divination, soothsaying, augury, sorcery, the use of
charms, mediums, wizardry, or necromancy. These are not clearly distinct activities; they overlap and
are sometimes used interchangeably. What they have in common is that they all involve efforts to
obtain knowledge which is ordinarily hidden, and the means of attaining it is through dealings with
the spirit world or with mysterious supra-natural forces.

John Piper
Consulting mediums is like committing adultery against God. Jesus Christ is the husband of
the church. He is God's fullest revelation. All that we need to know and all the power which it is good
for us to have comes through him and his Word. When we go after other secret oracles and psychic
powers, we say in effect that our husband is unsatisfactory and we must seek for lovers elsewhere.
When a Christian peeks at his horoscope, he is treating Jesus the same way a husband treats a wife
when he peeks at Playboy to provide the titillation he no longer gets from her. Involvement in the
occult is wrong because it is spiritual adultery, it is rebellion against the sovereignty of God, and it
belittles his revelation while exalting human pride.

Modern Occultism. . .
Things such as tarot cards, palm readers, horoscopes and Ouija Boards are modern attempts to
practice forms of spiritism. They are dangerous links to the demonic, even if undertaken in a spirit of
fun. Christians should have nothing to do with occultist arts or practices.
 What is the positive Christian alternative to the occult? The answer is one and the same
everywhere in the New Testament: This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Over
against all the allurements of the occult stands Jesus Christ, the embodiment of all God's revelation.
Faith takes its stand on the sufficiency of this revelation and seeks no other secret knowledge. Faith
lays itself open to the power of God through Jesus Christ alone and seeks no other psychic or spiritual
power. Faith cleaves to Jesus, loves Jesus, adores Jesus, trusts Jesus, extols the all-sufficiency of
Jesus, and shuns, in all her many garments, the temptress of the occult.

c.  Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem: (show
map)

The Philistines abandon their earlier strategy of launching raids into the hill country of Judah
and instead march north to seize control of the Valley of Jezreel, a key trade route running east
to west and itself rich agricultural land. In that open terrain they can deploy their chariot forces
to good effect and so drive a wedge between Saul and the northernmost tribes. At first the
invaders had mustered at Aphek (1 Sam. 29:1), the northernmost Philistine settlement, but here
they have advanced a further 44 miles (71 km) to Shunem, so chronologically this incident fits in
after 1 Samuel 29. Shunem is on the north side of the valley, while Gilboa is on the south, about
7.5 miles (12 km) away. “Shunem, in the Valley of Jezreel, was about twenty miles north of Aphek,
the most northerly Philistine city.

d. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled
greatly: Long before his downward spiral when Saul still walked in the Spirit, he was a man of great
courage (as in 1 Samuel 11:6-11). Saul began to lose his courage when the Spirit withdrew from him (1
Samuel 16:14) and now after the death of Samuel his courage seems almost completely gone.

When Saul sees the Philistine positions, he realizes the situation is grim and has a
premonition of the outcome. In mountainous territory the Israelite infantry might hold their own,
but this is open country. “Afraid” echoes “saw” (cf. comment on 1 Samuel 23:15), and along with
“his heart trembled greatly” (cf. 1 Sam. 13:7) is the first of a number of indications of fearfulness
in the chapter.

Nag-uumpisa ang hindi magandang pag-kilos dahil sa pagkatakot sa tao kesa sa Diyos. . .

Saul’s fearful nature. . .

Marshall Segal (desiring God)

The fear of man is a repeated theme and warning throughout Scripture, but the phrase itself is
used only once, in Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is
safe.” While this is not the only verse about the fear of man, these few words are packed with help for
discerning and fighting it.
The fear of man lays a snare, which teaches us two important lessons: the sin relies on
disguise, and it intends to harm. When King Saul wanted to destroy David, he gave him his daughter
Michal as a wife if David would kill a hundred Philistines. Saul said to himself, “Let me give her to
him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him” (1
Samuel 18:21). Saul meant to kill David (1 Samuel 18:25). So, the fearful, self-absorbed king laid a
snare (his own daughter!) under a thin veil of love and kindness, not knowing he had already fallen
headlong into the greater, more deadly snare: the fear of man.
What happens next illustrates the awful harm the fear of man can do to a man. David kills not
one hundred, but two hundred Philistines, and claims his bride. “When Saul saw and knew that the
Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, Saul was even more afraid of
David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually” (1 Samuel 18:28–29). He was even more afraid. As
with any other sin, if we feed the fear of man, it will not leave our table. It will eat away at everything
— relationships, budgets, schedules, ministries, convictions, and sleep — until we perish or put it to
death.
And how do we perish? How does the fear of man ruin a man? Notice, “Saul saw and knew that
the Lord was with David” (1 Samuel 18:28), and yet he still could not surrender or submit. Instead, he
opposed and threatened David continually (1 Samuel 18:29). Because Saul feared man more than
God, he set himself against God, and nothing could be more deranged or dangerous than making war
with God.
Ano yung antidote nito?
“. . .but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”

That war against God brings us back to our proverb: “The fear of man lays a snare, but
whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” We know that the fear of man is subtle and seeks to harm,
but Proverbs 29:25 tells us more than that. It also tells us how to be healed. The only remedy for this
tyranny is a deep, abiding, and growing trust in God. We must find our refuge, not in the praise and
approval of one another, but in the arms and heart of heaven. And we must fear him more than we
fear them.
As subtle as the fight against the fear of man may feel, so much hangs in the balance — our
ability to see and savor Jesus, our boldness as his witnesses to a hostile world, our willingness to
lovingly correct and exhort one another, our freedom to obey the will of heaven, whatever it might
cost us on earth. And the fight will be won not mainly by analyzing the thoughts, intentions, and
words of others, but by relentlessly exposing ourselves to the fearful wonder of our Father.
 “All experiences of the fear of man,” Ed Welch writes, “share at least one common feature:
people are big. They have grown to idolatrous proportions in our lives. They control us. Since there is
no room in our hearts to worship both God and people, whenever people are big, God is not.
Therefore, the first task in escaping the snare of the fear of man is to know that God is awesome and
glorious, not other people” (When People Are Big and God Is Small, 95).

Application:

Yung fear natin that hinders us to trust God. . .

2. (6) God will not speak to Saul.

 6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim,
or by prophets.

a.  When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him: In the ancient world,
military commanders consulted the gods before venturing into battle. However, when “Saul
inquire[s] of the Lord,” he meets with total divine silence. None of the three recognized modes of
divine communication function because the Lord refuses to speak to one who has already been
rejected because of his disobedience (1 Samuel 15:26). Saul is seeking not a way back to God but a
way to avert impending defeat. Saul was in a terrible place. The Philistines threatened, Saul’s
courage failed, and now God was silent when Saul sought Him. Saul hoped God would speak to him
through dreams, but God was silent. He hoped God would speak to him through the Urim, but God
was silent. He wanted to hear from God through the prophets, but God would not talk to Saul.

 Dreams – God used dreams and visions several times in the Bible to communicate with people. In
the Old Testament, God used dreams to reveal His plan, to further His plan, and to put His people
in places of influence.
 Sacred lots – The “sacred lots” also known as Urim were stored in the priest’s breastplate close to
his heart.[ii] On special occasions were used to determine God’s “yes” or “no” answers. These
Urim were stones or sticks. One side was painted white and the other side was painted black. One
colored represented yes and the other color represented no. They would put them in a box, shake
them up, and throw them on the ground. God would tell them whether they should do what they
were asking or not or if something were going to happen or not.
 Prophets – A prophet in the Old Testament was someone who was used by God to communicate
God’s message to an individual, a group of people, or to the whole world.
 This silence demonstrates that God will not always answer everyone who seeks Him; not when
a man is in a place of judgment as Saul is. King Saul has rejected and is currently rejecting God’s
previously revealed will. Since Saul didn’t care to obey God in what he already knew, God will not give
him more to know.

i. At the very least, Saul knew that God did not want him hunting David, hoping to kill him. Saul said
as much in passages such as 1 Samuel 24:16-20 and 26:21. Yet Saul disregarded what he knew to be
God’s will in this matter. If we want God to guide us, we must follow what guidance we already have
from Him.

ii. When we reject the word of the LORD we can still be comforted by the fact that He speaks to us. As
we continue to reject His word He may stop speaking to us – and we will lose even that comfort.

The silence of God in the Bible. . .

Elijah

400 years of silence

Application:

Bypassing to Trust God

Reason on not trusting God. . .

II. Bypassing the Word of God (7-19)

1. (7-8) Saul seeks out a medium.

7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out 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 medium at En-dor.”

8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they
came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I
shall name to you.” 

a. Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her:

Since God didn’t answer right away, Saul decided to try something else. Remember, Saul was full of
fear because of the Philistines and desperate. He was unwilling to repent and impatient. As a result,
he told his advisors in verse 7, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.” It
wasn’t easy to find a medium in the land of Israel because Saul had previously put them out of the
land. So Saul asked his staff to find him one and they suggested a woman in the city of En Dor.
A “medium” is someone who communicates with the dead. Saul gives up on getting an answer from
God and instead of trusting God, without an answer, he decided to seek out a “medium” for an
answer.

Traditionally, this woman is known as the Witch of Endor. It may be appropriate to call her a witch,
but it is more accurate to call her a medium or a necromancer – one who makes contact with the
dead. A medium (Hb. ʼob) claimed to be able to conjure up and consult the spirit of a dead person
(also termed ʼob), perhaps using ventriloquism to convince the gullible that they had contacted
the departed (cf. Isa. 8:19; 29:4). A necromancer (“a knowing one”) claimed to possess knowledge
through access to the spirits of the dead. As the narrative later reveals ( 1 Sam. 28:7), The English
word medium has in mind the concept of a channel – they stand in-between the world of the living
and the dead and communicate between the two worlds. Saul’s efforts in dealing with this
phenomenon, as in other expressions of his commitment to the standards of the Lord, fall short
of total success.

Saul’s decision to use the services of a medium violates even his own shallow understanding of
the religion of the Lord and marks the final step in his downfall (cf.  1 Chron. 10:13–14). Saul’s
servants are army officers, two of whom subsequently accompany him on his visit ( 1 Sam. 28:8).
Pansinin natin yung location. . .

ii. “Endor was only a short distance away, on the north of the Hill of Moreh, and accessible despite the
Philistine forces close by.” (Baldwin) Endor was “located four miles northeast of Shunem and thus
dangerously close to where the Philistines were encamped, possibly a Canaanite enclave in the
territory of Manasseh (Josh. 17:11–13). To get there from his camp Saul must pass 6.2 miles (10
km) through enemy-controlled territory.

b. Saul disguised himself… and he went: As Saul sought the medium he brought upon himself a
curse. God said in Leviticus 20:6: And the person who turns after mediums and familiar spirits, to
prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.

The irony of situation. . .

In a practical sense, Saul was trying to hide his identity in order to not be detected by those in
enemy territory. He wanted to blend in order to not reveal his true identity as king. His fear, worry,
and pride have driven him to this point.  

To escape the notice of the enemy as well as his own troops, and also to deceive the medium, the
king removes his royal robes. With two companions he makes his way to the medium “by night,”
which was possibly the usual time for séances but would also help conceal his movements. He
asks the woman to “divine for me by a spirit [ ʼob, “ghost”; cf. comment on 28:3].” “Divine” (cf.  1
Sam. 15:23) is the most general term for engaging in occult practices, and Saul is requesting a
séance during which he will name a specific individual to be called up from the realm of the dead.

Mula sa pagpapalayas. . . ngayon ay siya naman ang naghahanap. . .

c. Bring up the one I shall name for you: Saul will ask the medium to channel the deceased
prophet Samuel. He did this because he wanted to know what God might say to him. Saul is like a man
going to a palm reader to hear the will of God.

i. This shows the depth of Saul’s fall from God, and how it affected his mind. He obviously isn’t
thinking clearly here. Once Saul rejected the truth, he was likely to fall for even the most foolish
deception.

Problem number 2- ay pagpunta sa witch. . .

(9-10) Saul answers the suspicions of the medium.

 9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and
the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my
death?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon
you for this thing.”

The woman suspects her unknown visitor might be an agent acting for Saul, and so,
without conceding that she could do what has been asked, she reminds them of the royal policy.
“Cut off” implies a death sentence, as required by Mosaic law (Lev. 20:27), and is a stronger term
than the earlier “put” or “remove” (1 Sam. 28:3), which would still leave open the possibility of
expulsion. The medium does not want her alleged ability to contact the dead to lead to her joining
them prematurely. The medium wondered if this was a government “sting” operation; but Saul
assured her – swearing in the name of the LORD, no less – that she would not be punished.

Saul’s oath in the name of the LORD reminds us that spiritual jargon means nothing. “As the
Lord lives” (cf. 1 Sam. 14:39) is a standard Israelite expression, its use in this context reveals how
thoroughly confused Saul’s thinking has become. It is sheer blasphemy to employ the divine name
to guarantee immunity to one engaging in practices contrary to divine law. As certainly as the
LORD lives Saul was in complete disobedience and darkness. This is the last time Saul used the
name of the LORD in the book of 1 Samuel and he used it to swear to a medium that she will not be
punished.
Problem #3- yung paggamit niya ng name ng Panginoon in vain . . .

3. (11-14) To the medium’s surprise, Samuel appears.

11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for
me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul,
“Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” 13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you
see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is
his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul
knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

Other translation KJV “And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the
ground and bowed down.”

a. Bring up Samuel for me: Why did Saul want to see Samuel? Considering the times Samuel
strongly rebuked Saul (such as in 1 Samuel 15:22-29), we might think that Samuel was the last person
Saul would want to see. Probably, Saul wanted to remember his “good old days” with Samuel, when
the prophet was his guide and mentor (1 Samuel 9:25-26).

Possibly the manner in which Saul speaks and the assumption that he can indemnify individuals
convinces the woman that she is dealing with no ordinary visitor. “Whom shall I bring up for
you?” concedes that she can conjure up spirits. In his reply, Saul places “Samuel” first for
emphasis. Samuel is the prophet who had conveyed Saul’s call to him and represented the
certainties of the past on which Saul has turned his back.

b. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice: The medium was probably
so shocked because she was a fraud, and most of her dealings with the spirit realm were mere tricks.
Now Samuel really appeared from the world beyond and she was completely surprised to have
a real encounter with the spirit realm.

i. In addition, we can say that this medium was familiar with the presence of demonic spirits but the
presence of the Holy Spirit was probably unfamiliar to her. The holy presence of the Holy Spirit may
have seemed terrifying to her. “The indications are that this was an extraordinary event for her, and a
frightening one because she was not in control.” (Baldwin)

c. Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul: The medium is also surprised because now
she knew that she practiced her craft before the same king who drove out all the mediums and
spiritists from Israel. She had reason to be afraid both of the real spiritual presence she saw and the
king right beside her.
i. We are not told how the medium knew it was Samuel. It might have been something Samuel said
when he first appeared. It might have been a word of supernatural knowledge, communicated to her
either from God or from the world of the demonic.

d. And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth”: The Hebrew
word translated by “spirit” in the New King James Version is actually the Hebrew word elohim –
literally, “gods” but often applied to the One God in plural form. This indicates both the truth of the
Trinity and God’s greatness, which is indicated in Hebrew by the plural form. When the medium said
she saw an elohim, she did not mean that she saw the One True God and she did not mean that
Samuel was deified. Instead, speaking from her own pagan context, she called this appearing of
Samuel an elohim because that was what it seemed to be in her pagan vocabulary. It was only she who
called Samuel an elohim.

Saul is as excited as the medium is disturbed. “Do not be afraid” is a perfunctory attempt to
allay her fears, because he does not want the séance to end prematurely. “What do you see?”
reveals that at this stage Saul can see nothing himself. The language of the medium’s reply is not
totally clear, nor is our understanding of what is taking place. “I see a god coming up out of the
earth” presumably means that from her heathen perspective the woman sees an imposing,
preternatural figure that she takes to be divine. “Up out of the earth” reflects the belief that Sheol,
the realm of the departed, is located under the world.

e. Saul perceived that it was Samuel: However, Samuel appeared, he was visible to both the
medium and Saul. This wasn’t a “crystal ball” appearance that only the medium could pretend to see.
Nor was it a “voice in the dark” as in a séance. This was a real appearance of Samuel.

Saul still cannot see anything and has to ask, “What is his appearance?” The medium’s
description is sufficiently distinctive for Saul to identify the figure as Samuel. “An old man”
describes Samuel in terms of human frailty (certainly not the “glory” of Moses and Elijah in  Luke
9:30–31), and he is wearing a “robe,” his characteristic dress from boyhood (1 Sam. 2:19) that
played a significant role in Saul’s rejection (1 Sam. 15:27–28). Perhaps at this point Samuel
becomes visible to Saul, who greets him with all deference and respect.

f. It was Samuel: This strange incident is controversial, and several different approaches have been
used to understand this passage. Here are four of the most commonly suggested possibilities.

i. Some believe that this was a hallucination of the medium. But this doesn’t make sense because it
doesn’t explain why the medium was so frightened. It doesn’t explain why Saul also saw Samuel and
why Samuel spoke to Saul, not to the medium.
ii. Some believe that this was a deception by the medium. But this also isn’t an adequate explanation,
for the same reasons given to the previous suggestion.

iii. Some believe that this was a demonic impersonation of Samuel. It is possible that the medium,
with her occultic powers, summoned a demonic spirit that deceived both her and Saul. But this
suggestion is also inadequate, because it does not speak to the issue of motive. After all, what
advantage does Satan gain by “Samuel’s” words to Saul?

iv. Some believe that this was a genuine (but strange) appearance of Samuel. This is the best
explanation because it is supported by the reaction of the medium, who got more than she bargained
for. It is also supported by the truth of what Samuel said (and the text says that Samuel said it). Some
may say that it is impossible for Samuel to reappear in some way, coming from the world beyond back
to this world. But Moses and Elijah also came from the world beyond back to this world when they
appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3).

i. “I believe Samuel did actually appear to Saul; and that he was sent by the especial mercy of God to
warn this infatuated king of his approaching death, that he might have an opportunity to make his
peace with his Maker.” (Clarke)

ii. When we close our ears to God He will find unusual – and perhaps uncomfortable – ways to speak
to us. “That he did appear to Saul, there can be no question, but he did not come in response to her
call. He was sent of God, for the express purpose of rebuking Saul for his unholy traffic with these evil
things, and to pronounce his doom.” (Morgan)

v. Clarke makes an additional valuable point: “I believe that the woman of En-dor had no power
over Samuel; and that no incantation can avail over any departed saint of God, nor indeed over
any human disembodied spirit.” Samuel really came, but not because the medium called for him.
Samuel appeared because God had a special purpose for it.

God allowed this strange appearance of Samuel because it accomplished two things. It re-
confirmed the coming judgment upon King Saul in a dramatic way, and it taught the medium a
powerful lesson about the danger of her occultic craft.

Ano-ano ang mga bagay na kinatatakutan mo sa buhay?

Paano ito maaaring magtulak sa iyo ng paglayo sa Diyos at gumawa ng sariling diskarte?

This is what fear does to people. It causes them to do things they know is wrong. They feel
trapped and make irrational decisions. Proverbs 29:25, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap…” (NLT).
Without knowing it, Saul had become trapped in his own fear and it was leading him to his own death.
Instead of truly seeking God, Saul sought out a medium who could contact the dead. Something God
had strictly forbidden.

C. Samuel speaks to Saul.

1. (15-18) Samuel tells King Saul why the LORD will not speak to him.

15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am
in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me
and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me
what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you
and become your enemy? 17 The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the
kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice
of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this
thing to you this day. 

a. Why have you disturbed me: Samuel’s words would be in the mouth of anyone who left the
place of comfort and blessing in the world beyond to come back to the earth. Samuel would rather be
back where he was. This is an indication to us of the reality of the world beyond. Though he passed
from this world, Samuel was in a real place, living a real existence.

a.  I am deeply distressed: Saul explained his problem to Samuel. First, the Philistines make
war against me. But far worse than that is the fact that Saul knows that God has departed from
me and does not answer me any more. Saul then revealed why he called for Samuel: that you
may reveal to me what I should do.

i. What I should do: “Saul is asking for guidance when his course of action is obvious: he has to
fight the Philistines. What he really wants is reassurance that all will be well and that he will win the
battle.” (Baldwin)

There are no barriers to communication between Samuel and Saul, and the medium plays
no part in their conversation.

b.  Why do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your
enemy: Samuel was on the LORD’s side, so if the LORD wouldn’t tell Saul what he wanted, he didn’t
have any reason to believe that Samuel would tell him. Perhaps Saul kept seeking, hoping that the
news would get better, but it never did.
d. As He spoke by me… the voice of the LORD: Essentially, Samuel confirmed what God already
said to Saul. The message of the LORD to Saul is disturbingly consistent, no matter which strange way
God chooses to bring the message.

i. The test for any “spirit encounter” or “angelic revelation” is its faithfulness to the Biblical message.
It doesn’t matter what kind of impressive encounter one has with a spiritual being; even if an angel
from heaven (or Samuel himself!) preach any other gospel to you… let him be accursed (Galatians
1:8).

e. Because you did not… execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has
done this thing to you this day: Samuel called Saul’s mind back to what happened in 1 Samuel 15.
In that chapter, Samuel told Saul “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has
given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you… For He is not a man, that He should relent”
(1 Samuel 15:28-29). Apparently, in the fifteen or so years since the events of 1 Samuel 15, Saul
thought that perhaps the LORD would change His mind. Samuel told Saul that the LORD had not
changed His mind at all.

i. Samuel makes this point exactly when he quotes from the 1 Samuel 15:28-29 passage with these
words: For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your
neighbor, David. God’s word to Saul didn’t change from the time He first said it until the time it
would be fulfilled. Perhaps Saul thought that time would change God’s mind; but time never changes
God’s mind. Our repentance and genuine brokenness may change God’s mind, but never time.

2. (19) Samuel tells Saul about his fate. (ang masamang ballita)

19 Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow
you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the
Philistines.”

a. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: Saul learned from Samuel that he would die
the next day. In 1 Samuel 28:15, Saul asked to know what I should do. Samuel never told him what to
do because it was too late to do anything. All Samuel told him was what would happen, and God’s
judgment was already in motion.

i. Before this time, Saul had plenty of time to repent but now time has run out. We can never assume
that we will have as much time as we want to repent. The desire and opportunity to repent are gifts
from God. If we have the desire and the opportunity today we must seize upon it, because they may
not be there tomorrow.
b. The LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines… you and your
sons: When judgment fell upon Saul it would also trouble the people around him. His sons and all
Israel would also suffer.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14

13 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the
command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. 14 He did not seek guidance
from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of
Jesse.

Saul’s circumstances are the product of his past disobedience, echoing 1 Samuel 15:19. The
same verb is used in both “did not carry out” and “The Lord has done this thing,” linking the
offense and the retribution imposed by God. “This thing” is probably God’s refusal to respond to
Saul: the one who has abandoned God is abandoned by him. God has withdrawn not only
prophetic guidance but also support for Saul’s kingdom. Defeat awaits king and people alike.
Furthermore, Saul and his sons will die the following day (cf. 1 Sam. 31:6), when they will join
Samuel in Sheol. The king appointed to defeat the Philistines (1 Sam 9:16) will die leaving Israel
dominated by the Philistines.

“Moreover the Lord will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore
tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed the Lord will give over the army of Israel into the
hands of the Philistines.”

Application: Bypassing the Word of God

Hindi nagbabago ang salita ng Panginoon. . .

Where do you seek guidance?

Kahit nagbabago ang norms ngayon ay hindi nangangahulugan na nagbago na ang holiness ng Diyos. .
.

Examples. . .

Pride month (celebration ng paglayo sa God-given design of gender)

Abortion. . . US conservatives celebrate yung pagbaligtad nito. . . but the wicked are angry. .

Maging sa pilipinas. . . nagbabago yung norms. . .

Kaya yung pagtanaw natin sa marriage ay bumababaw ay dahil na din sa pagpayag natin na tayo ang
hubugin ng lipunan. . .

We tend to compromise because of fear. . .

But what God tells us in His Word?

1 Corinthians 16:13

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 

III. Bypassing the blessings of God

1. (20) Saul reacts with fear and a loss of all strength.

20 Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel.
And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. 

 Because of the words of Samuel: Presumably Saul had maintained a kneeling position before
Samuel (1 Sam. 28:14), but on hearing this inexorable declaration he collapses “full length on the
ground.” The terror-stricken king had been hoping against hope that Samuel would indicate some
way to avert the looming disaster, but he has instead reinforced its certainty and immediacy—and
then he apparently fades from the scene. “And” (lit., “also” or “moreover”) introduces a further
factor beyond the crushing mental blow: Saul is also physically drained and exhausted, “for he
had eaten nothing all day and all night,” perhaps to obtain divine favor by abstaining from food
(cf. 1 Sam. 14:24) or through loss of appetite due to his anxiety. It wasn’t just that Samuel told Saul
that he would die or fall in battle before the Philistines. Far worse to Saul was the knowledge that the
LORD was his adversary. Not only were the Philistines set against him, so was the LORD God.
Knowing this was more than Saul could bear.

We have been talking about the rise and fall of Saul. Well now, Saul falls literally full length on
the ground. We have come a long way from Saul chosen as king head and shoulders above everyone
else in Israel to Saul consulting a medium flat on the ground before a dead prophet of God.

Paalala sa ating lahat. . .There is no benefit in sin. Saul is pitiful here. He is flat on the ground, filled
with fear, not eating, completely drained of strength, judged by God. Even the witch of Endor takes
pity on him and offers him some food so he can go on his way. There is no benefit in sin, as King Saul
found out the hard way.

2. (21-25) The medium comforts Saul.

 21 And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, “Behold,
your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said
to me. 22 Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat,
that you may have strength when you go on your way.” 23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his
servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the
earth and sat on the bed. 24 Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it,
and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it, 25 and she put it before Saul and
his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

a. The woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled: It’s a sad note
when a practitioner of the occult comforts the King of Israel. But they were two of the same kind; each
lived in rebellion to God, and each was under judgment from the LORD. In Saul’s predicament,
forsaken by God and Samuel, it is the medium who acts with compassion. Looking at the king
lying on the ground, she “saw that he was terrified”—an intense and debilitating emotional
reaction that overwhelms an individual and leaves him unable to function appropriately. Since
she has risked her life to comply with his demands, he ought now to act on her advice and eat to
regain his strength. The medium’s practical humanity is no doubt tinged with circumspect self-
preservation: what would happen to her if the king died in her house? Saul’s initial refusal is
overcome by the insistence of his two attendants and the woman, who “urged him” (“pressed him
to respond”; cf. 2 Sam. 13:25).

Then he rose and went away that night: Eventually he gets up from the ground to sit “on the
bed,” probably here a couch-like structure with a frame, not merely a mat on the floor. The
woman has a fattened calf in the stall in her house. She kills it and presumably boils or roasts
some of its meat—a special delicacy in those days. Though she acts quickly in preparing it and
baking bread, it is no mere snack she provides but a meal fit for a king. So for an hour or two Saul
sits on the bed, brooding over what has occurred. After Saul and his men ate, “they rose and went
away that night.” The scene conducted in darkness ends in darkness (cf. v. 8; John 13:30). The
God who is light had not blessed Saul, who is left to face his inevitable end the following day.

Application:
Bypassing the blessings of God
There is no benefit in sin. . .

Conclusion:
Christ the True King. . .
Hinubad niya ang roba para sa ating kalagayan. . .
Sa gitna ng Hardin. . . papalapit sa kanyang kamatayan, (Luke 22)
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed
him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into
temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and
prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
yours, be done.” 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening
him. 44 And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood
falling down to the ground.[g] 45 And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found
them sleeping for sorrow, 46 and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may
not enter into temptation.”

Si Saul ay may takot na mawala ang buhay, si Christ ay willing ibigay ang buhay para sa ating lahat. . .
Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.