Saul was at his wit’s end and
frantic. He had hoped for a message from God through his dream, but it didn’t
come. He tried the Urim, but it yielded no answer. Neither was there any
prophet of God who would come forward to provide guidance for him. The
deafening silence of God was intolerable. For us believers, the silence of the
Lord would be almost unbearable. It behooves us, therefore, to always stay
pliable before the Lord, keep short accounts with Him and make sure that our
conduct will not drive His presence from our lives.
Although
consulting a medium was absolutely forbidden by God, Saul was
prepared to risk it and break the command in Leviticus
19:31 that said, “Do not turn to mediums or
necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I
am the Lord your
God.” So desperate was he now that all logical reasoning left him. He
was prepared to go incognito to consult a medium. Calling his servants he said,
“Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her
and inquire of her.” Surprisingly, his servants’ response was so immediate.
They told him “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.” Hadn’t
he had all the mediums and spiritists removed from the land? How could the
servants know that there was one in En-dor? We can smell a rat here. There was
still widespread corruption in the land and the king’s order was violated.
En-dor
was located up north of Shunem and to get there, he had to go pass the
Philistines army that was encamped at Shunem. That’s probably another reason
why he had to disguise himself. Furthermore, he also traveled there by
night to seek the medium. The medium was cautious about her identity. So she
said to Saul, “Behold, you know what Saul has done,
how he has cut off those who are mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are
you then laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?” She didn’t want
to get into trouble just in case the man before her was one of Saul’s spies.
Ordinarily, her words should have stirred Saul’s conscience. But alas, he was
too desperate to care to listen to his conscience. So he assured her saying “As
the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Even
despite this assurance, she did not suspect that her visitor could be Saul. Who
else could have provided such a guarantee except for Saul himself? But the
woman was naïve and careless. So she asked, “Whom shall I bring
up for you?” Even when Saul asked for Samuel to be brought up, she did not
suspect a thing. It was only when Samuel appeared that it dawned upon her that
her client was Saul and the Samuel whom she was asked to bring up was the dead
prophet.
When Samuel appeared, everything became clear to the medium. So
she …cried out with a loud voice… spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you
deceived me? For you are Saul.” She knew at once that her client was none other than King
Saul himself. She was probably trembling with fear. It was then that Saul said
to her “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” Her
response was “An old man is coming up, and he is
wrapped with a robe.” And at once Saul knew that it was Samuel, so he bowed
with his face to the ground and did homage.
Many questions flood our minds. We are baffled by this
passage. Did the prophet Samuel really appear? How could a medium
have such power to bring back someone from death? If it’s truly the Prophet
Samuel, does it mean that necromancy, calling the dead up to speak to is
allowed? Would God collaborate with a medium? These are questions one
would find hard to answer. All we can say is that the Bible made it
unmistakably clear that it was Samuel that Saul spoke to. We will seek to
answer these questions in our next discussion.
The lesson we glean here is that as people of God if we have a
vibrant relationship with Him, we will be guided to act correctly. Know that
the Holy Spirit is not only in us but also alongside us to provide our
much-needed guidance. No matter how desperate a situation we may be in, we must
not resort to seeking answers from any source other than from the Lord Himself.
We can be sure of Divine guidance when we walk with the Lord. What a privilege!
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