1 Samuel 28:19, commentary and pictures

The words belong to Saul's night visit to the woman of Endor during the war with the Philistines, when he sought counsel because God had forsaken him and would no longer answer him through appointed means. They declare that Israel with Saul and the host of Israel would be delivered into the hand of the Philistines and that Saul and his sons would die the next day, denouncing his sin and foretelling retribution as judgment for his disobedience. The speaker was not Samuel himself and the message did not come from God, but was spoken by an evil spirit, an angel of Satan, impersonating the dead Samuel through the sorceress. The impersonator could give a correct prediction because Satan knew Samuel well and could imitate him and accurately announce Saul's coming defeat and death. The verse therefore does not show that Samuel was brought up from the grave or that the dead speak, for God did not bring Samuel from the grave, did not send this message through a sorceress, and does not give Satan power to resurrect the dead.

Saul had let Satan lead him as a willing captive, with his perceptions blunted step by step until he could be led into this crime, and then Satan exposed his ruin before him and exulted in his confusion. The message of doom was meant to make Saul face the enormity of his sin and believe pardon was hopeless, in order to destroy his courage, confuse his judgment, urge him toward ruin, and drive him to despair and self-destruction rather than to reform him. By giving this true statement of Saul's end, Satan opened a way to instruct rebellious Israel by satanic cunning so they would learn from him and sever the last link holding them to God. The apparent revelation of Saul's doom was meant to make people trust the sorceress, turn from God as their counselor, and place themselves under Satan's guidance.

Saul's consultation with the spirit of darkness helped bring about the fulfillment of the prediction, since his despair and separation from God left him unable to encourage his army or direct them to seek God's help, so Israel's army fell to the Philistines. The account is connected with modern Spiritualism, in which Satan deceives people by appearing or speaking as a departed friend with lying words that mislead. It illustrates the lure of claiming to reveal the future God has kept hidden, in contrast with the knowledge God has revealed in his word and the safe guidance it provides.