1 Samuel 28:4
And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.
The verse records the opposing musters for Saul's last battle, with the Philistines encamped at Shunem and Saul with all Israel encamped at Gilboa. Shunem lay on the northern edge of the plain of Jezreel and Gilboa at the foot of Mount Gilboa a few miles away on the plain's southern border. The plain was the same battlefield where Gideon with three hundred men had defeated the Midianites, but Saul faced the Philistines without Gideon's faith in God and felt abandoned and defenseless. The imminent battle left Saul afraid, and burdened by guilt and unwillingness to repent he sought an answer from God, who gave him no answer. The crisis on the eve of battle led Saul to desperately seek guidance through a woman with a familiar spirit, a means he knew God had forbidden and for using which he had once punished others.