_A.M. 2948. B.C. 1056._
The conference between Achish and David, 1 Samuel 28:1; 1 Samuel 28:2.
The preparation of the Philistines, and the distress of Saul, 1 Samuel
28:3. He applies to a woman that had a familiar spirit, to raise
Samuel, 1 Samuel 28:7. Samuel appears, and foretels his defeat and
d... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Philistines gathered their armies together_ Sir Isaac Newton
judges that they were recruited about this time by vast numbers of men
driven out of Egypt by Amasis. This probably was one reason why they
resolved on a new war with Israel, to which, however, Samuel's death
and David's disgrace were... [ Continue Reading ]
_David said, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do_ He
answered ambiguously, as he did before. _Achish said, Therefore will I
make thee keeper of my head_ That is, he promised to make him captain
of his life-guard, which, we find by the sequel, he accordingly did.
Achish evidently understoo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now Samuel was dead_, &c. This was observed before, 1 Samuel 25:1,
but is repeated here again to show that Saul was now sensible of his
loss, wanting his advice in a time of great distress. _Saul had put
away those that had familiar spirits_ According to the divine command,
Leviticus 20:27, which p... [ Continue Reading ]
_His heart greatly trembled_ When he saw their numbers, their orders,
and their appointments, he judged himself to be greatly overpowered,
and fell into great terror upon the prospect. Had he kept close to God
he needed not to have feared all the armies of the Philistines.... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Saul inquired of the Lord_ This seems to contradict what is
affirmed 1 Chronicles 10:14, that _he did not inquire of the Lord_,
which is assigned as the reason why the Lord slew him. But Rabbi
Kimchi, and others, thus reconcile these two places. That since he did
not continue to inquire of him... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit_ That converses with evil
spirits, or hath power to call up, or make to appear, the spirits of
dead persons, in order to answer questions, or give information of
what may be inquired of them: see on Deuteronomy 18:10. Saul mentions
a _woman_ rather than a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Saul disguised himself_ Both because he was ashamed to be known, or
thought guilty of this practice, and because he suspected the woman,
if she knew him, would not practise her art before him. _And he went_
In all haste that very night, stripped of his regal apparel, and
attended only by two compan... [ Continue Reading ]
_He said, Bring me up Samuel_ As he had formerly experienced Samuel's
kindness and compassion, so now he expected it in his deep distress.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when the woman saw Samuel_ The particle _when_, which our
translators have inserted here, and which is not in the original text,
embarrasses the sense, and is calculated to give the reader a wrong
idea of this transaction, leading him to think that some space of time
intervened between Saul's r... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman said, I saw gods ascending_ The original word here used is
_elohim;_ and is with equal propriety rendered _God, a god, or gods;_
when spoken of Jehovah it is translated _God_ in the Scriptures; but
when meant of the false gods of the heathen, of angels or of
magistrates, which it sometime... [ Continue Reading ]
_An old man coming up_ Although this appearance of Samuel is
represented by the woman _as coming up out of the earth_, there is no
reason to think that it did so in fact. Rather, the woman spoke
according to the prevailing notion of both Jews and heathen of those
days, that the place of abode of sep... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why hast thou disquieted me?_ “Houbigant observes very justly, that
Samuel complains not of the woman, but of Saul, for disquieting him;
from whence it follows that Samuel was not raised up by her magic
arts, but by the will of God. Samuel's disquiet plainly arose from
Saul's hardened impenitence.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand_, &c. Here the prophet
foretels that Saul should that day be stripped of the kingdom, and
that it should be given to David. Then follows what nothing but
infinite, unerring prescience could predict; an exact, minute, precise
account of all the circumst... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moreover, the Lord will also deliver_, &c. Samuel here predicts three
things: 1st, That the Lord would deliver Israel, with Saul, into the
hand of the Philistines. 2d, That Saul and his sons (namely, the three
that were with him in the camp) should be _with him_, that is, should,
like him, be in th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth_ Struck to the
heart, as if the archers of the Philistines had already hit him, at
the hearing this dreadful sentence pronounced upon himself, his
family, and people; and overcome with astonishment and terror. _And
was sore afraid because of the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
_They arose up and went away that night_ “What remorse,”
says Delaney, “what desolation of mind, what horrors of guilt, what
terrors and anticipations of divine wrath haunted him by the way, may
no reader ever learn from his own experience!” Some have expressed a
hope, that as, no doubt, his past s... [ Continue Reading ]