1 Samuel 28:15-19

1 SAMUEL—NOTE ON 1 Samuel 28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul. The Bible text assumes that the spirit raised by the medium really is Samuel. He is called “Samuel” in vv. 1 Samuel 28:15. He speaks much as he had spoken to Saul during his lifetime (compare vv. 1 Samuel 28:16 with 1 Samuel 15:18, 1 Samuel 15:26: in both places, Samuel describes David as Saul’s “neighbor”). He uses the name of the LORD seven times, and adds the true prophecy that Saul and his sons will die. An evil spirit would not deliver a true prophecy or true words to Saul, as Samuel does here. That the woman’s actions brought Samuel up is implied by 1 Samuel 28:15, Why have you disturbed me? Therefore, whatever the limits on a medium’s power normally were, in this case the Lord let her raise the spirit of Samuel himself.