1 Samuel 28:18, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the message delivered to Saul at Endor when he consulted the woman there, seeking a medium in his extremity. It gives his failure to obey the voice of the Lord and to execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek as the reason the Lord had brought this calamity, judgment and defeat upon him that day.

The words were not spoken by Samuel himself raised from the dead, nor were they sent by God, but were a counterfeit presented by Satan through the sorceress, with an evil spirit and his angels impersonating Samuel to deceive the living. The appearance cannot have been Samuel raised from the grave, since Satan could not resurrect the dead. The voice was part of Satan's deception and not communication with the dead, because the dead know nothing and do not communicate with the living, while Satan impersonates the departed to mislead people. Although counterfeit in source, the message used Saul's real disobedience and correctly declared his fate, warning of the loss of his kingdom and Israel's defeat by the Philistines.

Satan had won Saul under his control cautiously at first, leading him almost imperceptibly away from God until his perceptions were blunted and he became a willing captive ready for almost any crime, then exposed his ruin and exulted in his confusion. After Saul had justified his disobedience, the truth of his guilt and the hopelessness of pardon were presented in his extremity to drive him toward ruin, despair and self-destruction rather than repentance. By this correct statement of Saul's end Satan opened a way for Israel in rebellion against God to be instructed by satanic cunning and to sever the last link holding them to God.