1 Samuel 28:14

An old man cometh up The Sept. has "a man coming up upright," a reading which is possibly due to the strange Rabbinic fable that the witch knew her visitor to be Saul because Samuel came up erect to do honour to the king, instead of appearing feet foremost as ghosts evoked usually did!

a mantle The prophet's garb. Cp. 1 Samuel 15:27.

Saul perceived Lit. knew. Saul recognised from the description that it was Samuel, and shewed his reverence for the great prophet by the usual gesture. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:8. At first Samuel was seen by the witch only, but Saul's obeisance, and the conversation carried on between them, seem to indicate that he afterwards became visible to Saul also.