In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.”
2 David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”
Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”
Saul and the Medium at Endor
3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium,so I may go and inquire of her.”
“There is one in Endor,” they said.
8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”
9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?”
10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”
11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
“Bring up Samuel,” he said.
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure[a] coming up out of the earth.”
14 “What does he look like?” he asked.
“An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.
21 When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do. 22 Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some food so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.”
23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.”
But his men joined the woman in urging him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the couch.
You and your men will accompany me, what a place called leader, in front. Sometimes we glow for pride's warmth, off the kisses of a seducer or the flattery of those in high seats. How it comes to mean so little in the morning when the light of the real sun burns hot upon our cheeks. This is beyond the treatment of symptoms, for the relationship seems good, better than that with Saul, more than the respect of Israel. Here I am esteemed, though some of this is based upon my lies. Will God's anointed really take his men and go up against his people?
Saul had obeyed the Mosaic law and kicked out the mediums, and as long as he had access to God this was good for him. When he no longer has a prophet, the priest's he chose is useless, and he has spoken from his own mouth the acknowledgments of his falling kingdom, but God is now silent, he wants to hear again. He has to go against the Philistines, but God is no longer with him. He wants to hear that he will win, and there is a huge problem here, God has already spoken. When God says that your rule will come to an end, that the kingdom will go to your neighbor, that this is why? Because of your sin, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord to begin with, and His word still stands. Every time He spoke there was the opportunity to repent, but you did not seek the truth, you sought to confirm the words of your own heart. Maybe if I check back with God later He will have changed, maybe now my disobedience will bring about a good result. I will go even further and transgress his law that I know because I enforced it against those who practiced witchcraft.
Saul had obeyed the Mosaic law and kicked out the mediums, and as long as he had access to God this was good for him. When he no longer has a prophet, the priest's he chose is useless, and he has spoken from his own mouth the acknowledgments of his falling kingdom, but God is now silent, he wants to hear again. He has to go against the Philistines, but God is no longer with him. He wants to hear that he will win, and there is a huge problem here, God has already spoken. When God says that your rule will come to an end, that the kingdom will go to your neighbor, that this is why? Because of your sin, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord to begin with, and His word still stands. Every time He spoke there was the opportunity to repent, but you did not seek the truth, you sought to confirm the words of your own heart. Maybe if I check back with God later He will have changed, maybe now my disobedience will bring about a good result. I will go even further and transgress his law that I know because I enforced it against those who practiced witchcraft.
'As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 20:6
The self, the humanist, will always demand that God be as human as he is or that He answers according to the demands and whims of man. If you will not do this thing for me then I shall deny you, and the god who speaks up first will be mine, even if it is only my own voice I hear. Some would even prefer a broken god, a smaller god, rather than a Sovereign Creator, Who has already spoken and cannot be moved nor needs change. Saul should be on his face repenting before God for every thought of chasing after His chosen, David. He should have sought forgiveness, restoration, seen the finite as nothing, the kingdom as a small thing, but God please accept my broken heart, my bankrupt spirit, forgive me and take back this crown. I would rather have Your grace, Your peace, Your love. This does not take place, not in the high and mighty courts of pride, the little king cannot bow, not even to the one Who made his throne. We exist because He is, and Satan could not ascend to where God sits, for the created is not the Creator, Saul could not find a throne upon this earth, a kingdom or bit of dust that he called into being without the will of God. Yet, God does not answer me so I will seek out the devil if he will talk to me, and this brings Saul to the witch of Endor. She does not at first recognize him, and it is difficult to say for sure, but she cries out when Samuel appears. Some would have it that this is because her usual deception and slight of hand have now become too real. Others would say that she communes with the dead, but it was the fear of Saul, which fits somewhat. I don't personally believe that the deception is always a human trick, but that we do battle against powers and principalities. The mediums are of the mind that they are speaking to the one asked for, the dead loved one, but this is the blind leading the blind. Those fallen from heaven have more history than us, knowledge of us, of God, and they are superior in their hermeneutic. Satan came into the garden saying, "hath God said?" There are some that believe this is a demonic encounter, a counterfeit of Samuel, for just as certain as Satan is willing to deceive, he is also ready and eager to condemn. He is described as the accuser of the brethren. Many of the old writers who took that line of thought supposed also that a man could not be called back from death. Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah before He took the cross, and while I think that it is mostly show with mediums, that sometimes men do engage with demons, I am left here to measure words. The words are not pleasing to Saul's want, they say what has already been said, and he still does not repent. It passes a final judgment that he takes with fear, but there is no change. He is stoic in his resolve, dead in his trespasses, taking his men and family along with him for the ride. What shall it profit a man? Maybe if I keep walking this way, keep standing here, pounding my fist, maybe if I keep doing opposite of what God says, it will all work out somehow. Saul keeps moving forward.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1: 6-10
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