Endor, the place where the witch lived (1 Samuel 28:7), lay behind enemy lines. Saul, a man of true natural courage, skirts the enemy camp to seek wisdom from a witch. The next day, not running from the fight, he dies in battle—though he died in self-will by falling on his own sword. But Saul with his impressive height and impressive courage was never a match for the enemies of God’s people in his own strength. He ends his career visiting a witch, falling on his own sword and having his body, together with the bodies of his sons, hanging on the Philistine city wall.
His successor, David, had the right perspective, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). David peacefully passes on his kingdom to his son and, “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (1 Kings 2:10). Natural courage isn’t enough, we need the “name of the Lord.”