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1 Samuel 28:13-23

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13 "Don't be afraid!" the king said to her. "What do you see?" The woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground."
14 "What does he look like?" Saul asked her. "An old man is coming up," she said. "He's wrapped in a robe." Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed low out of respect, nose to the ground.
15 "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Samuel asked Saul. "I'm in deep trouble!" Saul replied. "The Philistines are at war with me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do."
16 "Why do you ask me," Samuel said, "since the LORD has turned away from you and has become your enemy?
17 The LORD has done to you exactly what he spoke through me: The LORD has ripped the kingdom out of your hands and has given it to your friend David.
18 The LORD has done this very thing to you today because you didn't listen to the LORD's voice and didn't carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites.
19 The LORD will now hand over both you and Israel to the Philistines. And come tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me! The LORD will hand Israel's army over to the Philistines."
20 Saul immediately fell full length on the ground, utterly terrified at what Samuel had said. He was weak because he hadn't eaten anything all day or night.
21 The woman approached Saul, and after seeing how scared he was, she said, "Listen, your servant has obeyed you. I risked my life and did what you told me to do.
22 Now it's your turn to listen to me, your servant. Let me give you a bit of food. Eat it, then you'll have the strength to go on your way."
23 But Saul refused. "I can't eat!" he said. But his servants and the woman urged him to do so, and so he did. He got up off the ground and sat on a couch.
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1 Samuel 28:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 28

The Philistines gathering together, to fight with Israel, Saul trembled at it, not being able to get any answer from the Lord about it in any way whatever, 1Sa 28:1-6; upon which he applies to a woman that had a familiar spirit to bring him up Samuel, which she did, 1Sa 28:7-14; and what passed between Saul and Samuel, or at least the apparition in his form, is recorded, 1Sa 28:15-19; which so struck him, as to make him strengthless, and so melancholy, that he refused to eat until persuaded, or rather compelled, by the woman and his servants, 1Sa 28:20-25.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
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Footnotes 4

  • [a] Or I see gods or I see divine figures
  • [b] LXX is with your neighbor; cf 15:28; 28:17
  • [c] LXX; MT The LORD himself has done just what
  • [d] LXX you and your sons will fall in battle.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible

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