1 Samuel 28:19

_MOREOVER THE LORD WILL ALSO DELIVER ISRAEL WITH THEE INTO THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES: AND TO MORROW SHALT THOU AND THY SONS BE WITH ME: THE LORD ALSO SHALL DELIVER THE HOST OF ISRAEL INTO THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES._ Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons by with me - i:e., in the state of the dead. The expression "with me" does not imply that the condition of Saul and his sons would be the same as that of Samuel, but that they would be, like the prophet, in the receptacle of departed spirits, though each would have his own place....

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 28:19. _TO-MORROW_ SHALT _THOU AND THY SONS_ BE _WITH ME_] What an awful message! In the course of the ensuing day thou shalt be slain, thy three sons shall be slain, and the armies of Israel shall be delivered into the hands of the Philistines! Can any person read this, properly considering the situation of this unfortunate monarch, the triumph of the enemies of God, and the speedy ruin in which the godlike Jonathan is about to be involved, without feeling the keenest anguish of heart? But Samuel says, "He and his sons should be _with him_." Does not this mean that they were to go to _paradise_? I suppose it means no more than that they should all _die_. Yet the paraphrase of the Rev. C. Wesley is beautiful: - "What do these solemn words portend?...

Rather, “will deliver Israel also.” Saul had not only brought ruin upon his own house but upon Israel also; and when Saul and Jonathan fell the camp (not “host”) would be plundered by the conquerors 1 Samuel 31:8; 2 Samuel 1:10....

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

MOREOVER, THE LORD WILL ALSO DELIVER ISRAEL WITH THEE INTO THE HANDS OF THE PHILISTINES,.... Not a word of comfort does he speak unto him, it being the business of this foul spirit to drive him to despair by the permission of God; had he been the true Samuel, he would have directed him to have altered his course of life, and especially his behaviour toward David, and advised him in those difficulties to send for him, who might have been of singular use unto him; he would have exhorted him to repentance for his sins, and humiliation before God on account of them, and given him hope on this that God would appear for him, and work deliverance, as he had done; but instead of this tells him, that he and his army would be delivered into the hands of the Philistines, which he might make a shrewd guess at, and venture to say from the circumstances of things, and the situation Saul and his people...

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)....

WITH ME: i.e. with the dead....

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....