1 Samuel 28 — The Witch of Endor

The chapter opens by telling us Samuel was dead and that when Saul inquired of the Lord, "the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets" (1 Samuel 28:6). Every legitimate channel was closed to him. Saul's turn to a medium was an act of desperation and disobedience — the very sin for which he died: "Saul died for his transgression... and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD" (1 Chronicles 10:13–14).

The narrative is told from the woman's and Saul's perspective: she describes "gods ascending out of the earth" and "an old man... covered with a mantle," and Saul "perceived that it was Samuel" (1 Samuel 28:13–14). Saul himself saw nothing — he asked her what she saw and bowed to the ground. The text reports the séance as it unfolded without affirming that the apparition was actually Samuel.

Notably, the figure pronounces Saul's doom — yet God had already refused to speak to Saul by any prophet. It is strange that God would decline to answer through living prophets and then send a dead one at the bidding of a forbidden medium.

"The dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward... neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 9:5–6). "He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house" (Job 7:9–10). Samuel, a faithful prophet, would at death be asleep awaiting the resurrection — not available at a medium's call.

The account is a warning, not an endorsement. God forbade consulting mediums precisely because such encounters are deceptive (Deuteronomy 18:10–12; Leviticus 19:31). Saul's night at Endor shows where that path leads: no comfort, a message of despair, and death the next day. The chronicler's verdict stands as the inspired commentary: Saul died for asking counsel of a familiar spirit instead of the Lord.