1 Samuel 28:15 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the meeting between Saul and Satan. Saul came in disguise (1 Samuel 28:8), but Satan soon recognized him (1 Samuel 28:12). Satan also comes in disguise, here in the form of Samuel’s robe, and Saul cannot see through him. This shows the danger we face when we fight the powers of darkness in this world. They know us well, while we are often blind to their tricks and lies.

The spirit, pretending to be Samuel, asks why Saul has brought him up again, saying, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” (1 Samuel 28:15). This tells us, for our sake, that an evil spirit was speaking and pretending to be Samuel. As Bishop Patrick notes, witches do not have power to disturb the rest of good people or call them back whenever they wish, and the real Samuel would never have admitted that magic had such power. But for Saul, this was a clever trap from Satan. It was meant to make Saul honor this spirit, believe in divination, and stay tied to the devil’s side.

Saul then pours out his misery to this false Samuel, thinking he is speaking to the real one. It is a sorrowful complaint: “I am in deep trouble, and I do not know what to do. The Philistines are attacking me, but I would be fine if I still had the sign that God was with me. Sadly, God has turned away from me.” Saul did not complain about God’s silence until trouble came. When the Philistines rose against him, only then did he grieve over God’s departure.

He had not sought God in his good days, and now in trouble he is upset that God does not answer him. Neither dreams nor prophets give him any reply, and God does not answer him directly or through His messengers. But Saul does not speak like a penitent man who accepts God’s justice. He speaks like an angry man, lashing out at God and turning away from Him. “That is why I have called you,” he says, as if Samuel, God’s servant, would help the one God had rejected, or as if a dead prophet could help him more than the living ones could.

This makes it seem as though Saul truly wanted to meet the devil, even if he used Samuel’s name outwardly. He wanted advice that did not come from God, and that meant he was seeking it from God’s rival. In effect, he says, “If heaven will not help me, I will turn to hell.” That is the bitter path of a heart that has shut God out.

The evil spirit, speaking in Samuel’s clothes, gives Saul very cold comfort, and it is clearly meant to push him toward despair and self-destruction. If this had truly been Samuel, he would have told Saul to repent, make peace with God, and call David back from exile. Then he could have told Saul that mercy was still possible. Instead, the spirit presents Saul’s case as hopeless, much as Satan treated Judas: first tempting him to betray his master, then tormenting him until he hanged himself.

First, the spirit reminds Saul of his present misery (1 Samuel 28:16). He says that God has not only left Saul, but has become his enemy. So Saul should not expect any comforting answer from Him. In other words, how could this speaker be Saul’s friend, or give him wise counsel, when God has abandoned him?

Second, the spirit brings up David’s anointing as king (1 Samuel 28:17). This must have struck Saul in the deepest way. Nothing could have angered him more than hearing that David was chosen for the throne. Nothing is said to soften Saul toward David. Everything in the message makes the gap between them wider. Yet to keep up the disguise, the spirit says that God is speaking through him. The devil knows how to sound religious. He can even teach false teachers to sound like Christ’s apostles and copy their language. Those who use spells and charms and defend them by saying they contain only good things should remember that the devil can speak good words too, while hiding a cruel purpose.

Third, the spirit reminds Saul of his disobedience in failing to destroy the Amalekites (1 Samuel 28:18). Satan had once helped Saul excuse that sin when Samuel was trying to lead him to repentance. Now Satan brings it up to drive him into despair over God’s mercy. See what those gain who listen to Satan’s temptations. In the end, he will accuse them himself and mock them. And see how much those resemble him who lead others into evil and then blame them for it afterward.

Fourth, the spirit foretells Saul’s coming ruin (1 Samuel 28:19). First, Saul’s army will be defeated by the Philistines. This is stated twice: “The Lord will deliver Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” The spirit could foresee this by looking at the Philistines’ stronger army, Israel’s weakness, Saul’s fear, and especially God’s departure from them. Still, to sound like a prophet, he carefully gives the credit to God. He says, “The Lord will do it.”

Then he says that Saul and his sons will die in the battle: “Tomorrow,” that is, soon, and if this was after midnight, it may mean the very next day, after the day that had already begun. “You and your sons will be with me,” meaning in the state of the dead, separated from the body. If this had been the real Samuel, he could not have predicted it unless God had shown it to him. Yet even through an evil spirit, God could reveal it. We see something similar with Ahab, where an evil spirit foretold his fall at Ramoth-Gilead and helped bring it about (1 Kings 22:20, etc.). Perhaps this evil spirit also, by God’s permission, worked in Saul’s destruction. That spirit flattered Ahab, but terrified Saul, and both men were brought down. Such is the misery of those under Satan’s power. Whether he rages or flatters, there is no peace for them (Proverbs 29:9).