1 Samuel 28:3

_NOW SAMUEL WAS DEAD, AND ALL ISRAEL HAD LAMENTED HIM, AND BURIED HIM IN RAMAH, EVEN IN HIS OWN CITY. AND SAUL HAD PUT AWAY THOSE THAT HAD FAMILIAR SPIRITS, AND THE WIZARDS, OUT OF THE LAND._ Now Samuel was dead ... This event is alluded to as affording an explanation of the secret and improper methods by which Saul sought information and direction in the present crisis of his affairs. Overwhelmed in perplexity and fear, he yet found the common and legitimate channels of communication with heaven shut against him; and, under the influence of that dark, distempered, superstitious spirit which had overmastered him, resolved in desperation to seek the aid of one of the fortune-telling impostors whom, in accordance with the divine command (Leviticus 19:31; Leviticus 20:6;...

1-6 David could not refuse Achish without danger. If he promised assistance, and then stood neuter, or went over to the Israelites, he would behave with ingratitude and treachery. If he fought against Israel, he would sin greatly. It seemed impossible that he should get out of this difficulty with a clear conscience; but his evasive answer, intended to gain time, was not consistent with the character of an Israelite indeed. Troubles are terrors to the children of disobedience. In his distress, Saul inquired of the Lord. He did not seek in faith, but with a double, unstable mind. Saul had put the law in force against those that had familiar spirits, Exodus 22:18. Many seem zealous against, sin, when they are any way hurt by it, who have no concern for the glory of God, nor any dislike of sin as sin. Many seem enemies to sin in others, while they indulge it in themselves. Saul will drive...

Verse 1 Samuel 28:3. _SAMUEL WAS DEAD_] And there was no longer a public accredited prophet to consult. _THOSE THAT HAD FAMILIAR SPIRITS, AND THE WIZARDS_] Leviticus 19:31, and _"_Exodus 22:18_"_....

It does not appear when Saul had suppressed witchcraft; it was probably in the early part of his reign. FAMILIAR SPIRITS ... WIZARDS - i. e. ventriloquists ... wise or cunning men. See Leviticus 19:31 note....

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

NOW SAMUEL WAS DEAD,.... Had been so for some time; which is mentioned before, 1 Samuel 25:1; and here repeated, partly to observe the reason of the Philistines renewing the war, and partly to account for the conduct of Saul, in seeking to a witch to raise Samuel, and for the sake of that story: AND ALL ISRAEL LAMENTED HIM; as they had great reason to do; 1 Samuel 25:1; and buried him in Ramah, even his own city; there being two Ramahs, as Kimchi observes, it is added, "in his own city", to show that he was buried in that Ramah which was his native place, and where his constant residence was; though, as he says, it may mean that he was buried within the city, and not without it; but the Targum gives a different sense, "and they buried him in Ramah, and mourned f

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)....

IN RAMAH, &c. Hebrew "in Ramah and in his own city". Figure of speech _Hendiadys_ (App-6). in his own city, Ramah. HAD FAMILIAR SPIRITS. Familiar spirits are demons pretending to be dead persons; hence the word "necromancy". See notes on Leviticus 19:31 and Isaiah 8:19. WIZARDS. wise, cunning, or knowing ones....

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 expulsion of the soothsayers. This he probably did in the early part of his reign. An allusion to it may be traced in 1 Samuel 15:23. It was In accordance with the Law. See Leviticus 19:31;...