1 Samuel 28:15

_AND SAMUEL SAID TO SAUL, WHY HAST THOU DISQUIETED ME, TO BRING ME UP? AND SAUL ANSWERED, I AM SORE DISTRESSED; FOR THE PHILISTINES MAKE WAR AGAINST ME, AND GOD IS DEPARTED FROM ME, AND ANSWERETH ME NO MORE, NEITHER BY PROPHETS, NOR BY DREAMS: THEREFORE I HAVE CALLED THEE, THAT THOU MAYEST MAKE KNOWN UNTO ME WHAT I SHALL DO._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

7-19 When we go from the plain path of duty, every thing draws us further aside, and increases our perplexity and temptation. Saul desires the woman to bring one from the dead, with whom he wished to speak; this was expressly forbidden, Deuteronomy 18:11. All real or pretended witchcraft or conjuration, is a malicious or an ignorant attempt to gain knowledge or help from some creature, when it cannot be had from the Lord in the path of duty. While Samuel was living, we never read of Saul's going to advise with him in any difficulties; it had been well for him if he had. But now he is dead, "Bring me up Samuel." Many who despise and persecute God's saints and ministers when living, would be glad to have them again, when they are gone. The whole shows that it was no human fraud or trick. Though the woman could not cause Samuel's being sent, yet Saul's inquiry might be the occasion of it....

Verse 1 Samuel 28:15. _WHY HAST THOU DISQUIETED ME_] The complaint is not directed against the _woman_ but against _Saul_. Indeed, her incantations had no influence in the business, and it does not appear that she had commenced her operations before the _angels_ had prepared the way of the prophet, and before the _prophet_ himself had made his appearance. _THAT THOU MAYEST MAKE KNOWN UNTO ME WHAT I SHALL DO._] In his former difficulties, and when pressed by his enemies, he was in the habit of consulting Samuel; and now he applies to him as his former preceptor. God, he knew, might answer by such a man as Samuel, when he would answer by no other means....

DOWNFALL AND DEATH OF SAUL (CHS. 28-31.) THE PHILISTINES GATHER TOGETHER FOR WAR. DISTRESS OF SAUL, AND VISIT TO THE WITCH OF ENDOR (1 Samuel 28:1.). EXPOSITION ACHISH SUMMONS DAVID TO JOIN HIM IN THE WAR AGAINST ISRAEL (1 Samuel

AND SAMUEL SAID TO SAUL, WHY HAST THOU DISQUIETED ME TO BRING ME UP?.... This makes it a clear case that this was not the true Samuel; his soul was at rest in Abraham's bosom, in the state of bliss and happiness in heaven, and it was not in the power of men and devils to disquiet it; nor would he have talked of his being brought up, but rather of his coming down, had it been really he; much less would he have acknowledged that he was brought up by Saul, by means of a witch, and through the help of the devil: AND SAUL ANSWERED, I AM SORE DISTRESSED; in mind, being in great straits and difficulties, pressed hard upon by men, and forsaken of God, as follows: FOR THE PHILISTINES MAKE WAR AGAINST ME; so they had many times, and he had been victorious, and had no reason to be so much distressed, if that was all: but he adds, AND GOD IS DEPARTED FROM ME: and therefore he feared he should be...

7. SAUL AND THE WITCH AT ENDOR CHAPTER 28 _ 1. David fully joined to Achish (1 Samuel 28:1)_ 2. Forsaken Saul (1 Samuel 28:3) 3. The command to seek a witch (1 Samuel 28:7) 4. Saul's visit to Endor (1 Samuel 28:8) 5. Samuel's solemn message (1 Samuel 28:15) 6. Saul's despair and departure (1 Samuel 28:21) Saul's final plunge towards his awful end is the main topic of this chapter. Israel had ad

1 SAMUEL 28:2 is continued by 1 Samuel 29:1; the _connexion is_ broken by the insertion of 1 SAMUEL 28:3. SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR. This section interrupts the connexion; moreover, it would come naturally immediately before the battle of Gilboa. Saul is at Gilboa (p. 29) in 284. Opinions are divided; some hold that this section is from another source (E) than the bulk of 1 Samuel 25-31, and some that it is from the same source (J), that originally it stood in that document immediately before ch. 31, and that it has got into the wrong place, because it was omitted from an edition of _Samuel,_ and reinserted in a later edition (see p. 273)....

SAMUEL SAID: i.e. the spirit personating Samuel said. Just as it is done in the present day by the medium: never directly. DISQUIETED. If Samuel, then it shows he was "quiet" before. ME. Not my spirit. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim_. App-4. NO MORE. Therefore certainly not by means which He had expressly forbidden. See Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6; Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10; Deuteronomy 18:13, &c. BY PROPHETS. Saul omits the reference to "Urim" beca

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....

DISCOURSE: 308 THE WITCH OF ENDOR 1 Samuel 28:15. _And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do_. THAT such a thing as witchcraft has existed, we cannot doubt: but what were the incantations used, or what power Satan had to work with and by them, we know not. Certain it is, that in the days of our Lord, Satan appears to have had a greater influence over the bodies of men than he possesses at this time: and as that was permitted of God for the more abundant display of Christ’s power, so it is probable that an extraordinary influence over the minds of men may, through the divine permission, have