The day comes—David cannot escape this juncture of events—when the Philistines once again gather together their armies to go to war against Israel. David’s false position in their midst will thus be made evident. Poor David! What to do? How can he draw hack after having fooled the enemy about his enterprises and his sympathies? Let us remember that it is easier to enter a wrong pathway than to leave it.
We shall see that God does not abandon David and that He saves him in spite of himself from the danger of fighting against God’s people, but we shall also see how severe the discipline which he will have to endure will be.
Is it surprising that Achish, deceived by David, is counting on him? This proof of confidence ought to cover the man of God with shame: “Know thou assuredly that thou shalt go out with me to the camp, thou and thy men” (1 Sam. 28:11And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men. (1 Samuel 28:1)). A wrong walk is not only deplorable for ourselves but it draws after us into evil those whom we are called upon to guide as well. David’s answer is ambiguous like all of his behavior: “Thereby thou shalt know what thy servant can do” (1 Sam. 28:22And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. (1 Samuel 28:2)). Later, alas! this will be only too evident when he attempts to vindicate himself before the king and the princes (1 Sam. 29:88And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? (1 Samuel 29:8)). Achish, deceived, replies: “Therefore will I make thee keeper of my person forever” (1 Sam. 28:22And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. (1 Samuel 28:2)). Here then is the “beloved” being called upon to support Israel’s hereditary enemy! This is his reward; he advances in dignity. He, the true king of Israel, becomes Achish’s bodyguard. What a promotion, what an honor! Though a Christian is nothing in his own eyes, he is a king in God’s sight; he is called upon to walk according to this dignity. If he receives the world’s honors he loses his royal character, for he becomes a slave and has no part in his master’s benefits except in the measure in which he is in bondage to him.
In 1 Samuel 28:33Now 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. (1 Samuel 28:3), God’s word returns to Samuel’s death. As we have seen, this death left Saul and his people disabled. But Samuel’s presence and Saul’s profession of serving the Lord had resulted in Saul himself performing an act of purification: “Saul had put away the necromancers and the soothsayers out of the land.”
The enemy gathers together: Saul “was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And Saul inquired of Jehovah; but Jehovah did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets” (1 Sam. 28:5-65And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. 6And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. (1 Samuel 28:5‑6)). This position was more miserable than when Israel had followed enchantments and strange gods! At least these had given the appearance of answering Israel—an illusion no doubt, but an illusion which for the moment had raised their flagging spirits. Now: nothing but silence. The house that was swept had no statue, no ephod, and no teraphim (Hos. 3:44For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: (Hosea 3:4)). What to do? Whom to consult? Whom to lean on? What uncertainty for Saul! Judgment is at the door: how can it be evaded? Oh! in this darkness where he is floundering, if even a feeble ray of light would show him a way out! Nothing is more wretched than his condition. He is aware of his inevitable fate and in his great anguish is seeking a means to escape it. Now Saul takes account of the horror of his condition. Death would be better, but death offers no shelter from the judgment which he sees steadily advancing toward him from afar and which he knows to be without pity.
“Seek me a woman that has a spirit of Python, that I may go to her and inquire of her” (1 Sam. 28:77Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. (1 Samuel 28:7)). Christendom in our day is no different, about to be “spewed out” of the Lord’s mouth. It is calling up spirits and indulging herself with satanic illusions, for at one and the same time there is frightening reality and shameful illusion in these practices. The reality is that a demon puts itself at the disposal of the Pythoness; the illusion is that she is able to call up the dead. The demon only clothes itself with a shadowy appearance, for Jesus holds the keys of death and of Hades and no power but His own is able to open its doors. Satan himself cannot call up the dead. Those who have not believed and who have died are and remain “the spirits in prison.” God alone by making an exception can permit Samuel to come forth from the realm of the invisible and appear.
“When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice” (1 Sam. 28:1212And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. (1 Samuel 28:12)). This was not the result she had expected from her sorcery. The spirit that she knew was not there to clothe itself with an illusory form like those which she had had her followers witness. Before she can even call up the spirit a personage who greatly frightens her suddenly rises up before her. This is not just another appearance but a divine reality, “a god ascending out of the earth” (1 Sam. 28:1313And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. (1 Samuel 28:13)), an personage on whom her enchantments have no hold. It is Samuel himself, recognized by the king before whom he had walked for so long. The woman does not recognize Samuel, but Saul does. He alone, Israel’s head, was important enough to receive such an extraordinary vision. As for Saul, he cannot mistake the person, still less the words of Samuel. God who is not answering by the prophets posthumously answers one last time by Samuel, but only to ratify the judgment already pronounced.
Saul exposes his distress, his abandonment, his isolation, and the anguish of his soul (1 Sam. 28:1515And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. (1 Samuel 28:15)). It is too late; the measure is full; God has forgotten nothing; now He has become the enemy of Saul (1 Sam. 28:1616Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? (1 Samuel 28:16)) who has both God and the Philistines against him. And why? Saul did “not hearken to the voice of Jehovah” nor “execute His fierce anger upon Amalek” (1 Sam. 28:1818Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. (1 Samuel 28:18)). Moreover, beside the fact that he had “kept not... the word of Jehovah” he had “inquired of the spirit of Python, asking counsel of it, and he asked not counsel of Jehovah” (1 Chron. 10:1313So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; (1 Chronicles 10:13)). Disobedience and independence characterize man without God, and in spite of all appearances Saul was one of these. Because of these things the death of Saul and of his sons was decreed as well as the defeat of Israel (1 Sam. 28:1919Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:19)).
But yet another decision is announced to Saul, and this for the third time: “Jehovah has rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, to David” (1 Sam. 28:1717And the Lord hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David: (1 Samuel 28:17)). He had already heard this twice from Samuel’s mouth (1 Sam. 13:14; 15:2814But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. (1 Samuel 13:14)
28And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou. (1 Samuel 15:28)), but David’s name had not yet been mentioned. Today he learns from the mouth of God what he in his hatred had long ago suspected (1 Sam. 24:2121Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father's house. (1 Samuel 24:21)): his “neighbor” was this despised, hated, rejected David whom he himself had pursued, and this David is the chosen one, the anointed one, the beloved one who will have the place of honor and to whom the kingdom belongs! All that Saul had feared now rises up against him. No more pity, no more pardon. David, the king of grace himself, who had spared Saul so many times, had soothed him so often, who had returned him good for evil without tiring, could no longer from this moment onward present himself to Saul except as a judge.
Saul “fell straightway his full length on the earth, and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel” (1 Sam. 28:2020Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. (1 Samuel 28:20)). It is only when man finds himself before his inevitable fate that he really appreciates all its bearing. Until then there is always room for some illusion which hides the horror of our future from us. The king has no strength; he is faint with hunger but will not eat; he finally accepts some material help from the hand of one who is reprobate just like himself (1 Sam. 28:20-2520Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 21And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me. 22Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou mayest have strength, when thou goest on thy way. 23But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed. 24And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof: 25And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night. (1 Samuel 28:20‑25)).
What a solemn picture of the end of the man, the king according to the flesh! All the principles of his activity are called to his remembrance and weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, are found to be only disobedience, independence, and enmity against God and against His anointed. Nothing, absolutely nothing of that which has led Saul can stand before God. All his motives, all his ways, become just so many objects of judgment.