Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
The request records Saul turning to the woman at Endor after the Lord refused to answer him through dreams, the Urim, or prophets, asking her to inquire of a familiar spirit, and when she asked whom she should bring up he answered Samuel. Saul himself saw nothing in that encounter; the woman described an apparition which Saul took to be Samuel and before which he bowed. That figure was not Samuel, God's prophet, who was not present and whom God did not send or cause to appear, for the dead Samuel rested in the grave beyond Satan's power to resurrect, disturb, or bring forth.
The appearance was a supernatural counterfeit produced by Satan's power through his angels, who can take the form of the dead and imitate their speech and actions, with Satan using his intimate knowledge of Samuel to make the apparition speak and act like him, just as Satan could appear as an angel of light to tempt Christ. The mysterious voices and manifestations at Endor therefore do not prove that the dead communicate with the living; they were deceptive manifestations of evil spirits, by which Satan uses the appearance of departed friends and lies to mislead people. The impersonation nevertheless gave a correct and accurate description and statement of Saul's fate, doom, and end, yet its message furthered Saul's ruin rather than leading him to repentance.
The request gave Satan his opening with Saul as a willing captive, leading him away from God step by step by first coming in a very plausible manner and insinuating into favor and winning control cautiously until perception became blunted, then making bolder suggestions until almost any crime could be committed, then exulting in Saul's confusion at seeing where he was. By giving that true announcement of doom Satan opened a way for Israel to be instructed by his satanic cunning, so that in rebellion against God they would learn from him and thereby sever the last link holding them to God. The incident served Satan's plan to draw Israel into trusting the sorceress and consulting her, turning from God as their counselor to Satan, and it shows how Spiritualism claims to reveal the future that God has hidden, tempting people to distrust God and seek forbidden knowledge instead of following what God has revealed.
The request records Saul turning to the woman at Endor after the Lord refused to answer him through dreams, the Urim, or prophets, asking her to inquire of a familiar spirit, and when she asked whom she should bring up he answered Samuel. Saul himself saw nothing in that encounter; the woman described an apparition which Saul took to be Samuel and before which he bowed. That figure was not Samuel, God's prophet, who was not present and whom God did not send or cause to appear, for the dead Samuel rested in the grave beyond Satan's power to resurrect, disturb, or bring forth.
The appearance was a supernatural counterfeit produced by Satan's power through his angels, who can take the form of the dead and imitate their speech and actions, with Satan using his intimate knowledge of Samuel to make the apparition speak and act like him, just as Satan could appear as an angel of light to tempt Christ. The mysterious voices and manifestations at Endor therefore do not prove that the dead communicate with the living; they were deceptive manifestations of evil spirits, by which Satan uses the appearance of departed friends and lies to mislead people. The impersonation nevertheless gave a correct and accurate description and statement of Saul's fate, doom, and end, yet its message furthered Saul's ruin rather than leading him to repentance.
The request gave Satan his opening with Saul as a willing captive, leading him away from God step by step by first coming in a very plausible manner and insinuating into favor and winning control cautiously until perception became blunted, then making bolder suggestions until almost any crime could be committed, then exulting in Saul's confusion at seeing where he was. By giving that true announcement of doom Satan opened a way for Israel to be instructed by his satanic cunning, so that in rebellion against God they would learn from him and thereby sever the last link holding them to God. The incident served Satan's plan to draw Israel into trusting the sorceress and consulting her, turning from God as their counselor to Satan, and it shows how Spiritualism claims to reveal the future that God has hidden, tempting people to distrust God and seek forbidden knowledge instead of following what God has revealed.