Come, Holy Spirit. Let us seek to obey always the spirit of your law, and understand that it is a guard rail to keep us and others from harm, not simple a rule to keep us from fun. ESV 1 Samuel 28 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.” 2 David said to Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.” 3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 4 The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.” 8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.” 9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” 13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage. 15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.” 20 Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. 21 And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, “Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. 22 Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.” 23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. 24 Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it, 25 and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. God hates being manipulated as a pagan god. You know that old song, a hit for both Elvis and Frank Sinatra, that ode to self called My Way? https://youtube/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU This is Saul. God gave him a job to do. Saul did it his way. Sauls whole life has been an homage to Saul. Whatever God told Saul to do, hes done it a little differently than he was told. He did a little more. He did a little less. He did it a different way. He didnt wait for directions. He disregarded directions. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to have a servant like Saul? Now there are issues with the dates in Samuel. I went looking for a timeline here, and found several articles discussing the problems with dates. evidenceforchristianity.org/how-long-did-saul-reign-can-you-solve-the-difficulties-of-1-sam-131/ Whatever the actual truth of the timeline, its clear that Saul has been on the throne for some time, and hes nearing the end of his reign. He has a long history of ignoring God and doing it his way. God is finally tired of it, and he has stopped listening to Saul and stopped answering him. Can you blame him? Being the brain trust that he is, Saul decides two wrongs make a right, and goes to consult a medium. Again, since we skipped the law, Ill give you the relevant passages here. Leviticus 19:31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 20:27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.” Deuteronomy 18:10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,[a] anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. Okay, so why shouldnt we do these things? This is not Harry Potter. We arent talking about a fantasy magical world. We are talking about people who consult something other than God to know the future. Well, who knows the future? Does any human being know the future, dead or alive? If human beings dont know the future, who does? What supernatural beings are there other than God? And if you arent asking God, who is left? I dont think it takes much more than answering those questions to see that if you are asking anyone other than God about the future, you are consulting demons or Satan himself. Should you take advice from demons? Youd be a fool. Satan seeks to devour you, and you are giving him a fork. Should you trust someone who is consulting demons for any reason or purpose? Duh. Would you say that Sauls heart was in obedience to God when he cast out the necromancers, or was he just doing it his way again? His behavior in consulting a medium shows that he was doing it his way. Now, Im of two minds about this vision. The vision acts like youd expect Samuel to act, but Im not sure it is scriptural to think that the medium would actually be capable of calling up Samuel. There is scripture elsewhere that would lend itself to an argument that this is impossible, at least for man (Luke 16:19-31). However, God can suspend his own rules, and God may be allowing Samuel to appear to Saul to give him one last chance to repent. Sauls character is set. He is terrified. He knows that he is going to die the next day. He is prostrate, and will not eat. However, nothing in the text would make you think he is repentant. He is treating God like a pagan god: he expects God to be against him. He expects God to be terrible and powerful, and to seek to destroy him. He expects God to strike him down. He stops eating, probably in hopes that a sacrifice will manipulate God. No where do we see him take off his kingly garments, and accept that God has the right to rule over him. No where do we see him confess that he has sinned against God. No where do we see humility in this passage. No where do see a change of heart, of direction, of thought, of attitude. Sauls character is set in a certain attitude by long practice, and even when he KNOWS he is going to die, he cannot bend. There is an interesting parallel here with the character of the medium. When she sees that she is in danger, she doesnt repent of being a witch. She only accuses Saul of setting a trap for her. Being a medium is not something you are born with. You may be born with a certain spiritual sensitivity, but that does not mean you are forced to commit the ACT of consulting demons. We are all born that way with a desire to do what God tells us not to do. Being born with a sin nature is not the same thing as actually giving in to that nature, and committing the act. Even when you have committed the act, you have a choice to admit that its wrong and prostrate yourself before the Lord, admitting your sin and turning from it, or haughtily refusing to admit that it is wrong, that God has a right to determine it is wrong, and has a right to punish you for it, as both Saul and the medium are doing. Its an interesting parallel, and I doubt it is there by accident.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 19:05:00 +0000
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