Read 1 Samuel 28 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
28:1-2 {p} Achish asks David to fight on the side of the Philistines in war against Israel
28:3-14 {s} Saul seeks out the medium of En Dor
28:15 {s} Saul: God does not answer me, therefore I have called you
28:16-25 {p} Samuel’s prophecy: death for Saul and his sons, and defeat for Israel
The Strong theme:
28:3-25 {s+s+p} Saul seeks out the medium of En Dor to inquire of Samuel from the grave
1 Samuel 25:1-28:25 Chiastic Structure:
These are the places in the Bible that reveal to us that, 1) our eternal spirit lives on after our physical body wears out and dies; 2) the occult, which seeks to manipulate both the seen and the unseen worlds, is real, and has a real effect; nevertheless 3) manipulation is witchcraft, and the same as rebellion (1 Sam 15:23) and forbidden to God’s people, as it violates the free will of another, and the sovereignty of God.
“When you come into the land which YHVH your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to YHVH, and because of these abominations YHVH your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before YHVH your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, YHVH your God has not appointed such for you.” Deu 18:9-14
Saul was in rebellion long before he sought out the witch at En Dor. In 1 Sam 15, Samuel first rebuked Saul for rebellion, the same as witchcraft, in the matter of the Amalekites. When you are a king, you are responsible for the nation under your care, and flaunting God’s commandments is not a light matter.
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