1 Samuel 28:2-25

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). 1 Samuel 28:3 is probably an editorial note.

1 Samuel 28:4. Shunem: 2 Kings 4:8 *.

1 Samuel 28:3. The two armies are encamped opposite each other in the E. of the plain of Esdraelon; Saul's heart fails him when he sees the superior numbers of the enemy. He seeks guidance from Yahweh, but can obtain no oracle by the regular, legitimate methods. He goes by night, in disguise, to Endor (p. 30), some distance to the N. in the rear of the Philistine camp, to consult a woman with an -' obh, or familiar spirit, some kind of witch, often regarded as a necromancer, which would suit this narrative. He induced her with some difficulty to work her magic, and bade her call up Samuel. So far the disguised king had not been recognised, but at this point she looked more closely at him, and saw that it was Saul, who had done his best to rid the land of witches. She was alarmed, but Saul reassured her, and the magic went on.

1 Samuel 28:15. The king himself saw nothing, and only heard what the witch told him as to what she saw; he heard, or thought he heard, Samuel speaking; but this too has been explained by supposing that in reality the witch spoke after the fashion of a ventriloquist or a spiritualist medium. Samuel announces the doom of Saul.

1 Samuel 28:19. be with me: Driver and others read with LXX, with thee be fallen.