1 Samuel 28:1
1 Samuel 28:1-2. David forced to join the Philistine army 1. _in those days_ While David was at Ziklag, as related in the previous chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Samuel 28:1-2. David forced to join the Philistine army 1. _in those days_ While David was at Ziklag, as related in the previous chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely thou shalt know_ Better, THEREFORE NOW SHALT THOU KNOW: reading _now_for _thou_with the Sept. and Vulg. David's answer is designedly ambiguous. He is placed in a perplexing dilemma. It seems as though he must either fight against his own nation, or appear false to his liege lord Achish. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Saul resorts to the witch of Endor 3. _Now Samuel_, &c. From 1 Samuel 28:3 to the end of the chapter is an independent narrative. 1 Samuel 28:3 states by way of introduction certain facts as the key to the incidents about to be related: (1) the death and burial of Samuel (1 Samuel 25:1); (2) Saul's... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Philistines gathered themselves together_ This was no border foray, but a gathering of the whole force of the confederacy, as is clear from 1 Samuel 28:1 and 1 Samuel 29:1-4, for a decisive struggle with Israel. They marched northwards along the coast to the plain of Esdraelon, the great battle... [ Continue Reading ]
_he was afraid_ The consciousness that "the Spirit of Jehovah had departed from him" made the once brave king a coward.... [ Continue Reading ]
_when Saul inquired of the Lord_ In 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 it is said that "Saul died … for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, _and inquired not of the Lord_." The contradiction is only in appearance. Instead of humbling himself in penitence for the sin which he knew... [ Continue Reading ]
_that hath a familiar spirit_ Lit. "possessor of an _Ob_." See on 1 Samuel 28:3, and cp. Acts 16:16. Cp. Virg. _Aen_. VII. 312: "Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo." "If heaven bends not, I will stir hell beneath." _En-dor_ = _fountain of the dwelling_, was on the northern slope of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_they came to the woman by night_ It was an adventurous journey. They had to pass over the shoulder of the hill on which the Philistines were encamped, and traverse a distance of not less than ten or twelve miles. The darkness around was a fit emblem of the darkness in Saul's soul. Cp. John 13:30, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bring me up Samuel_ From _Sheol_, the realm of departed spirits, which is always spoken of as beneath the earth. The nature of the transaction here recorded is discussed in Additional Note VIII. on p. 244. It is assumed in the notes here that Samuel really appeared and spoke.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou art Saul_ The woman had not previously recognised her visitor, but simultaneously with the apparition of Samuel, discovered that he was Saul, either by the fact of the apparition for which she was unprepared, or by her intensified perception in a state of clairvoyance.... [ Continue Reading ]
_gods_ The Heb. word _Elôhîm_is plural, and when not applied to God Himself is generally to be so rendered. But it is evident from 1 Samuel 28:14 that only a _single_figure appeared. _Elôhîm_here denotes a _supernatural, non-earthly being;_or as Josephus paraphrases it, "one of god-like form.... [ Continue Reading ]
_An old man cometh up_ The Sept. has "a man coming up _upright_," a reading which is possibly due to the strange Rabbinic fable that the witch knew her visitor to be Saul because Samuel came up erect to do honour to the king, instead of appearing feet foremost as ghosts evoked usually did! _a mantl... [ Continue Reading ]
Samuel pronounces Saul's doom 15. _Why hast thou disquieted me_ Disturbed me from my rest in Sheôl. Samuel utters this complaint, because although he came as God's messenger, Saul's sin was the moving cause of so unnatural a mission.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore then_, &c. As if in such extremity I who am only God's servant could do aught for thee. _is become thine enemy_ The expression is startling, and it is almost certain that there is some corruption in the text. (_a_) The word for "enemy" is an Aramaic form, found elsewhere in Hebrew only i... [ Continue Reading ]
_to him_ i.e. if the Sept. reading is adopted in 1 Samuel 28:16, _to David_: or it may refer to God, and mean "FOR HIMSELF," in fulfilment of His will. But the Sept. and Vulg. read "TO THEE." _as he spake by me_ See 1 Samuel 15:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because thou obeyedst not_, &c. Cp. 1Sa 15:20; 1 Samuel 15:26. _executedst … hath the Lord done_ The connexion between the sin and the sentence is emphasized by the use of the same verb in the original in both clauses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_will also deliver Israel_ WILL DELIVER ISRAEL ALSO. The guilt of the king involves the nation also in punishment. In this clause the impending disaster is foretold generally; in the second and third clauses it is further defined as the death of the king and the defeat of the army. _with me_ In She... [ Continue Reading ]
Saul entertained by the woman 20. _all along_ HIS FULL LENGTH, lit. "the fulness of his stature." Terror of mind and exhaustion of body left him powerless.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have put my life in my hand_ By doing that which rendered her liable to the punishment of death. Cp. 1 Samuel 19:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_hearken thou also unto the voice_ OBEY THOU ALSO THE VOICE. The E. V. fails to bring out the exact parallel which the woman draws between her own compliance and the compliance she asks from Saul.... [ Continue Reading ]
_upon the bed_ Probably the _divan_, or platform running along the wall, which in the East serves for a seat by day and a bed at night. Cp. Esther 1:6; Ezekiel 23:41. Portable couches were also in use (ch. 1 Samuel 19:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the woman_, &c. Meals are rapidly prepared in the East. "With the Bedawin it is nearly universal to cook the meat immediately after it is butchered, and to bake fresh bread for every meal." _The Land and the Book_, p. 446. Cp. Genesis 18:6 ff.... [ Continue Reading ]