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1 Samuel
Chapter Twenty-eight
1 Samuel 28
Chapter Contents
Achish puts confidence in David, Saul's fear. (1-6) Saul
consults a witch at Endor. (7-19) Saul's terror. (20-25)
Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:1-6
(Read 1 Samuel 28:1-6)
David could not refuse Achish without danger. If he
promised assistance, and then stood neuter, or went over to the Israelites, he
would behave with ingratitude and treachery. If he fought against Israel, he
would sin greatly. It seemed impossible that he should get out of this
difficulty with a clear conscience; but his evasive answer, intended to gain
time, was not consistent with the character of an Israelite indeed. Troubles
are terrors to the children of disobedience. In his distress, Saul inquired of
the Lord. He did not seek in faith, but with a double, unstable mind. Saul had
put the law in force against those that had familiar spirits, Exodus 22:18. Many seem zealous against, sin,
when they are any way hurt by it, who have no concern for the glory of God, nor
any dislike of sin as sin. Many seem enemies to sin in others, while they
indulge it in themselves. Saul will drive the devil out of his kingdom, yet
harbours him in his heart by envy and malice. How foolish to consult those
whom, according to God's law, he had endeavoured to root out!
Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:7-19
(Read 1 Samuel 28:7-19)
When we go from the plain path of duty, every thing draws
us further aside, and increases our perplexity and temptation. Saul desires the
woman to bring one from the dead, with whom he wished to speak; this was
expressly forbidden, Deuteronomy 18:11. All real or pretended
witchcraft or conjuration, is a malicious or an ignorant attempt to gain
knowledge or help from some creature, when it cannot be had from the Lord in
the path of duty. While Samuel was living, we never read of Saul's going to
advise with him in any difficulties; it had been well for him if he had. But
now he is dead, "Bring me up Samuel." Many who despise and persecute
God's saints and ministers when living, would be glad to have them again, when
they are gone. The whole shows that it was no human fraud or trick. Though the
woman could not cause Samuel's being sent, yet Saul's inquiry might be the
occasion of it. The woman's surprise and terror proved that it was an unusual
and unexpected appearance. Saul had despised Samuel's solemn warnings in his lifetime,
yet now that he hoped, as in defiance of God, to obtain some counsel and
encouragement from him, might not God permit the soul of his departed prophet
to appear to Saul, to confirm his former sentence, and denounce his doom? The
expression, "Thou and thy sons shall be with me," means no more than
that they shall be in the eternal world. There appears much solemnity in God's
permitting the soul of a departed prophet to come as a witness from heaven, to
confirm the word he had spoken on earth.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 28:20-25
(Read 1 Samuel 28:20-25)
Those that expect any good counsel or comfort, otherwise
than from God, and in the way of his institutions, will be as wretchedly
disappointed as Saul. Though terrified even to despair, he was not humbled. He
confessed not his sins, offered no sacrifices, and presented no supplications.
He does not seem to have cared about his sons or his people, or to have
attempted any escape; but in sullen despair he rushed upon his doom. God sets
up a few such beacons, to warn men not to stifle convictions, or despise his
word. But while one repenting thought remains, let no sinner suppose himself in
this case. Let him humble himself before God, determined to live and die
beseeching his favour, and he will succeed.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel》
1 Samuel 28
Verse 2
[2] And
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.
Can do — He
speaks ambiguously, as he did before.
Verse 5
[5] And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his
heart greatly trembled.
He trembled —
Had he kept close to God, he needed not fear all the armies of the Philistines.
Verse 7
[7] Then
said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that
I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold,
there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
That hath, … —
One that converseth with the devil, or dead men's ghosts, and by them can
discover future things. See Isaiah 8:19.
Verse 8
[8] And
Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with
him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto
me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
Disguised —
Both because he was ashamed to be known, or thought guilty of this practice;
and because he suspected, the woman, had she known him, would not practice her
art before him.
Verse 11
[11] Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring
me up Samuel.
Samuel —
Whose kindness and compassion as he had formerly experienced, so now he
expected it in his deep distress. This practice of divination by the dead, or
the souls of dead persons, was very usual among all nations.
Verse 12
[12] And
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.
Saw Samuel —
The words are express, the woman saw Samuel, instead of the spirit whom she
expected to see, God ordering it so for his own glory.
She cried with a loud voice — Terrified and astonished, and thence easily conjectured, whom she had
been talking with.
Verse 13
[13] And
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.
Gods —
That is, a god, and divine person, glorious, and full of majesty and splendor,
exceeding not only mortal men, but common ghosts. She used the plural number,
gods, either after the manner of the Hebrew language, which commonly uses that
word of one person: or, after the language and custom of the heathens.
Verse 14
[14] And
he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and
he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he
stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
A mantle —
The usual habit of prophets, and particularly of Samuel, chap. 15:27. If it was not Samuel, but an other spirit
in his shape, it is not true, that Saul perceived it was Samuel. It seems Saul
did not see him, so soon as the woman, which occasioned his asking those
questions.
Verse 15
[15] And
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.
Called Samuel —
Happy had it been, if he had called Samuel sooner, or rather the God of Samuel!
It was now too late: destruction was at hand and God had determined, it should
not be stayed.
Verse 17
[17] And
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 neighbour, even to David:
To him — To
David.
Verse 19
[19]
Moreover 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.
Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me:
"What do these solemn words portend? A gleam of hope when life shall end.
Thou and thy sons, tho' slain shall be To-morrow in repose with me. Not in a
state of health or pain If Saul with Samuel doth remain; Not in a state of
damn'd despair, If loving Jonathan is there." Tho' these words may only
mean, ye shall surely die, without any reference to the state of their souls
after death.
Verse 20
[20] Then
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.
Fell — As
if the Archers of the Philistines had already hit him, and there was no
strength in him, to bear up against these heavy tidings: especially, as we
cannot doubt, but all his past sins were now brought to his remembrance and
what authority has any man to affirm, that he felt no contrition all this time?
Altho' it did not seem good to the holy ghost, to leave it upon record?
Verse 21
[21] And
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.
Came to Saul —
From whom she departed, when she had brought him and Samuel together, that they
might more freely converse together.
Verse 24
[24] And
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:
Unleavened —
Not having time to leaven it.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Samuel》
28 Chapter 28
Verse 1-2
Verses 1-25
The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to
fight with Israel.
Night preceding battle
As the flash of lightning reveals the hidden scenery around, so
the reception of momentous news suddenly reveals character. Two such events we
trace--the news of the terrible defeat brought to Saul, and the news of Saul’s
death brought to David. Leading his people to meet the Philistines, at whose
number he is astonished and affrighted, we come upon Saul as his army is
encamped on the slopes of Gilboa. We notice:--
I. Divine
direction sought (1 Samuel 28:6). In all former
difficulties Saul had sought Samuel. The prophet’s voice was hushed. Few
estimate faithful advisers at their value. Saul had no Samuel now. He knew not
God. His desolateness is indescribable. His own hand had closed the avenues
along which the angel of mercy had been wont to come. Yet, as Cowper says, “In
agony nature is no atheist;” so this desolate and moody man kneels to God!
Self-will, pride, resentment lurk in his petition (1 Samuel 28:15). He has no wish to
know God’s will, only how he may be successful! Complaints against God’s
dealings--there is no prayer in such words! Is it ever any use coming thus to
seek God’s help? Merely for our own selfish ends, asking the Divine One to
become partner in our self-seeking purposes! Come, let us hold our prayers up
to the light! Not everyone that saith, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the
Kingdom. Unable to bear the silence, Saul exhibits the--
II. Desperate
defiance of disobedience. In those days when his vision was clear and his heart
open to Divine teaching he abhorred this sin. Driven by fear, jealousy, and
pride, refusing to humble himself before God, he sends his servant to find “one
that hath a familiar spirit” (1 Samuel 28:7). Superstition
takes the place of obedient faith. The four theories concerning this scene may
thus be summarised--
III. Disobedience
ends in disaster. Did not our fathers fall in the wilderness through unbelief?
Is that not why so many fail to enter the life of joy?
1. Disobedience produced direst misery. In the path of disobedience
we become targets for the archers of Satan.
2. Disobedience culminated in suicide. The inhabitants of hell are
surely suicides. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. Ye would not come unto
Me, that ye might have life.” (H. E. Stone.)
Verses 3-25
Verse 6
The Lord answered him not.
God’s silence
I. A frequent
experience of those who seek God. It is neither an universal nor invariable
one, else prayer would become impossible. But it is sufficiently frequent to
occasion grave spiritual difficulty.
1. In apparent contradiction of Divine promise. Of Israel, even in
Egypt, it was said, “I will surely hear their cry” (Exodus 22:23). (Zechariah 10:1.) (Psalms 86:7.) How strong are the
assurances of Christ. (Matthew 7:7-11.)
2. Disastrous in its effect upon the life of the soul. If it be true
that “where there is no vision the people perish,” equally so is it that when
no Divine voice speaks to the soul it must cease to live. As the plant withers
in the gloom of the cellar, the soul that knows not the sunshine of the
Father’s smile cannot be healthy or vigorous.
3. A source of uneasiness and sorrow. It is not only right but in the
best sense natural that man should seek God; there is no deeper source of
dissatisfaction and restlessness than a baffled instinct.
II. An experience
to be interpreted. Even the silence of God has a meaning. Rightly interrogated
it may prove a precious revelation. In any case the possibilities are too grave
for the “sign” to be neglected.
1. God is sometimes supposed to be silent when He is not. Answers to
prayer are not always at once or easily apparent.
2. His silence is not always a token of displeasure. It may be simply
3. Yet it is often expressive of Divine wrath.
It must not be regarded as a light thing.
1. It may be intended to invite to inward examination and repentance.
Some unfaithfulness; a falling from grace; it may be direct disobedience. The
Holy One is saying, by His silence, “Come up higher. I cannot speak to you
there!”
2. It sometimes occurs, as in the case of Saul, in token of doom. The
gracious lips of Christ were silent before a Pilate and a Herod. (A. F.
Muir, M. A.)
A silent god
1.Calamity may be borne. We can oppose it to our manhood and our constancy.
Menaced by shipwreck, we can breast the storm. To be defeated in battle, to be
superseded in power, to see popularity crumbling into indifference--all this
and more Saul had to bear, and all this may be borne. “If God be on my side,”
anyone may say to all the world, “I care nothing for all the rest.” Did not
great Martin Luther cry: “Oh! my God, punish me rather with pestilence, with
all the terrible sicknesses on earth, with war, with anything, rather than Thou
be silent to me?” “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him
not.” Ah! that is to be desolate indeed!
2. There are some whom God does not answer because they do not care
to inquire of Him at all. The earth suffices them. Life is their feeding
trough, and they care nothing for more. They never care to look beyond the
narrow horizon of themselves.
3. When Saul inquired of the Lord, we are told that the Lord answered
him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Dreams were the
lowest form of revelation: yet we have so many closer modes of communion with
God, in His Christ and by His Spirit, that of dreams we need not speak. Have no
messages of Scripture ever seemed suddenly to burn their revelation upon your
souls? Yes, God does speak to us by Urim still, and He also speaks to us by His
prophets. And can you wonder that, if this be so, God, whom you have despised,
and whose laws you have deliberately and habitually violated, should not only
be silent to you at last? God never turns from the cry of the penitent, however
bad he may have been. Distinguish between God’s apparent silences for His
children, and the self-created silence of your own to those who utterly refuse
Him. Oh, let us beware lest we feel the awful silence which is not God’s, but
arises from our own obstinate and determined wickedness, that it may not
overwhelm us. (Dean Farrar.)
Communications threatened
During a heavy snowstorm the warning was sent out that in a few
hours the wet, heavy snow would break down the telephone and telegraph wires,
and cut off communication with the outside world. Instantly there was a great
rush to the telephones and the telegraph offices to get messages off before it
was too late. What if we knew that very soon God would refuse to hear any more
prayers; would there not be a great rush to the throne of grace to send our
petitions heavenward before we were cut off foreverse (Christian Endeavour
Times.)
Verses 7-25
Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit.
Saul and the witch of Endor
This narrative is unlike any other in the Bible, and therefore, as
might have been expected, has received various explanations. Three of them may
be briefly noticed:
1. In favour of the first interpretation may be urged the prima facie
meaning of the narrative. For the sacred writer says that “the woman saw
Samuel” (1 Samuel 28:12); that when she
described the apparition seen by her “Saul knew it was Samuel” (1 Samuel 28:14); that the prophet
reproached Saul for “disquieting and bringing him up” (1 Samuel 28:15); and that the
prophet foretold the defeat of Israel and the death of Saul and his sons on the
morrow (1 Samuel 28:19), both of which came
to pass. These are strong reasons, and if they are set aside, it should be in
view of others that are stronger. What, then, are some of the arguments against
this explanation of the narrative? God had forbidden the practice of necromancy
in Israel, and had commanded those who practised the same to be stoned (Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Again, Saul
himself was acquainted with this law of Jehovah, and had attempted to execute
it (verse 3-9). Still further, God had rejected the king, and had refused to
answer him by any of the usual and appointed ways of making known his will (1 Samuel 28:6). And, besides, there
is no indication in this narrative that Saul was now, at last, penitent, so
that a message from God might be expected to control or benefit him. Certainly
the refusal of God to answer Saul by dreams, by the Urim, or by the prophets,
the wilful disobedience of the king in the act of consulting the women, and the
close connection of Samuel’s appearance (if real) with the agency of this evil
woman, are moral objections to this view of the passage. Moreover, it will
scarcely be denied that the words, “Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me
up?” do not seem perfectly natural as the language of a true prophet coming
back from the Unseen with a Divine message, while they do seem entirely natural
as words spoken in behalf of a pretended apparition by the enchantress herself.
Again, if the woman was really and greatly amazed by the apparition of Samuel,
as she well might be if it was real, it is somewhat singular that she was so
prudent and self-collected afterwards.
2. In favour of the second explanation, that an evil spirit,
personating Samuel, appeared to the woman, and predicted to Saul his defeat and
death on the morrow, we can say but little of a positive character. It is,
however, free from some of the objections which lie against the first. For on
this hypothesis God does not connect a revelation of the future through his own
prophet with an act of desperate disobedience on the part of Saul, or with a
practice so solemnly prohibited as necromancy. For all the parties concerned
are given up to evil. “That the devil, by the Divine permission, should be able
to personate Samuel is not strange, since he can transform himself into an
angel of light! Nor is it strange that he should be permitted do it upon this
occasion, that Saul might be driven to despair, by enquiring of the devil,
since he would not, in a right manner, inquire of the Lord, by which he might
have had comfort. Had this been the true Samuel, he could not have foretold the
event, unless God had revealed it to him; and, though it were an evil spirit,
God might by him foretell it; as we read of an evil spirit that foresaw Ahab’s
fall at Ramoth-Gilead, and was instrumental in it.”
3. In favour of the third explanation several things may be alleged.
1. The king was in a state of mind which would render deception on
the part of the sorceress easy. He believed in necromancy, and in the testimony
of his servants that this woman was a mistress of necromancy, he was also
afraid and exceedingly anxious to obtain some clue to the future from the
invisible world, especially by means of Samuel, whom he knew to be a prophet.
2. The woman of Endor was most likely to have known of the
extraordinary stature of Saul, of the degeneracy of his character and fortunes,
of the perilous condition of his army, and of the dress of Samuel in his old
age.
3. With this knowledge she would have been tolerably sure to detect
the person of Saul in spite of his disguise, and would have laid her plan of
action accordingly.
4. It would have been easy for her as a ventriloquist to make the
prostrate king suppose that her changed voice came from an unseen form at a
slight remove from the place where she stood.
5. For Saul himself, it will be observed, did not see the alleged apparition
of Samuel; he but inferred it from the woman’s description of what she
professed to see rising out of the earth.
6. The woman’s animosity towards Saul, because of his “putting away
the necromancers and wizards out of the land” may have led her to wish his
death, and the circumstances in which he was now placed by the Philistines may
have emboldened her to say what she did. But in declaring Saul’s doom she was
personating Samuel, and must therefore speak as he might have been expected to
speak, reminding Saul of his past disobedience to God, of God’s displeasure
with him on that account, of God’s giving the throne to David, and of the
certain death which awaited Saul and his sons on the morrow.
7. The fulfilment of her words may have been partly due to the
despair which they produced in the mind of Saul. At any rate, the fact of their
fulfilment is not conclusive, in the circumstances, of their being a proper
revelation beforehand of the purpose of God. (A. Hovey, D. D.)
Saul and the witch of Endor
At this period to which the text relates Saul was in great
perplexity, owing to the want of someone through whom to obtain counsel from
God. The affairs of Israel were at this time in a critical state. Their ancient
adversaries, the Philistines, were mustering their forces. The moral degeneracy
of Israel served to embolden the enemy. Let us now endeavour to point out some
of the practical lessons which this remarkable narrative suggests.
1. The history forcibly teaches the solemn truth, that a man’s day of
grace is by no means invariably co-extensive with his life on earth. It is
evident that at least for a time before Saul perished he was left to eat of the
fruit of his own way, and to be filled with his own devices. The Spirit
departed from him, and at the same time the Spirit of evil entered in and took
full possession of him. After this there were no further means to be tried for
his conversion. The king had outlived his time of opportunity, and God was
departed from him. Saul’s day of grace had then terminated; and, whilst you
notice this, observe also the steps which led to this consummation: they were a
progressive series of resistances offered to God’s Spirit--repeated acts of
provocation, the repetition of refusals to hearken and to obey. There are numbers
who are emboldened in a course of irreligion from the impression that it will
be easy at some future time to turn and repent, and undergo the indispensable
change, without which they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. On this account
it becomes more necessary to repeat the warning, that the season for turning to
the Lord may pass away, never to return, even before the stroke of death ushers
the soul to its everlasting portion.
2. Again, the history before us is instructive as pointing out what
act it was on the part of Saul which challenged his final and immediate
punishment. From the narrative it appears it was the sin of witchcraft. But the
peculiarity lies in this, that it was a sin which Saul had professedly
abandoned, and against which he had proclaimed open war. Can we err in
concluding from hence that sin is then more especially hateful to God when
practised by one who knows its nature and has once deliberately purposed to
forsake it? To fall back to the indulgence of a sin which you have once resolved
to renounce is a sure way to provoke the heavy displeasure of God.
3. The narrative is full of instruction as to the folly of expecting
conversion by miracle when it is not effected by ordinary means. The
reappearance of Samuel availed nothing for Saul’s conversion. The reanimated
Prophet could not guide the man who had abandoned the guidance of God’s own
Spirit. Be not deceived to suppose that if unconverted by what God is doing for
you now, you would be converted by any supernatural agency. Your conversion is
possible now. It is the province of the Holy Ghost to effect it. Use the means
you have. God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask. (R. Bickersteth,
D. D.)
The witch of Endor
1. Let me explain what the belief about this woman of Endor was. In
popular speech we speak of her as the witch of Endor, but a more accurate
description would be the Necromancer. Among all races and nations in the
ancient world witchcraft, necromancy, and all their allied magic arts were
believed in and practised. In all heathen religions there was a place for
diviners, augurs, and magicians, who by their arts professed to tell what was
the will of the gods in any special enterprise. Never did Greek or Roman army
go forth to battle till the omens had been sought and found to be favourable.
Sometimes the diviners would profess to find the answer they were seeking for
in the appearances of Nature in sea, or earth, or sky, sometimes in visions of
the night, sometimes in the creatures slain as sacrifices; sometimes in the mysteries
of the grave, like this woman; sometimes by strange, weird incantations or by
mysterious rites and enchantments. In one or other of these ways men believed
they could get to know the Divine will.
2. The next point I would touch on is the question, What is the
significance of this so widespread a belief in necromancy and magic? It is now
held, I believe, that these arts represent the first attempts of men to have
converse with the unseen world, the first blind gropings of the soul after God,
the first rude efforts of man’s spirit towards a religion. Just as the science
of chemistry with its wonderful discoveries of the secret and subtle forces of
Nature had its beginning in the dreams and visions and impossible ambitions of
the alchemists; or just as astronomy, which reveals the sublime order of the
heavenly bodies, had its origin in the baseless imaginings of astrology, so
religion in human history began in the practice of these magic arts. What God
demands in those who come to Him is not the power of magic, but mercy, truth,
righteousness in the heart.
I. Saul’s
spiritual condition. First of all, it throws light on the spiritual condition
of Saul. He sought the aid of this necromancer because he despaired of any
message from God. It is in times of religious decay that superstition most
flourishes. When men lose faith in a living God who loves righteousness they
resort to magic and sorcery, and put their faith in outward ceremonies and
rites. Spiritualism is a reversion to the first and lowest forms of religious
inquiry. Science tells us that when a plant or animal reverts to its original
type, it suffers degeneration. And the spiritualist is one who is ignoring all
the world’s progress through ages of religious education, and is going back to
the first, rude, low methods in which men sought communication with the Unseen.
II. A wilful
imposture. The words in which the woman is described point to the means by
which she might have carried out the imposture. Rendered literally, the words,
“a woman who had a familiar spirit,” read, “a woman a mistress of the Ob.” And
the word “Ob” denotes ventriloquism. No doubt the power of ventriloquism was
believed to be supernatural, the gift of evil spirits. Then, for another thing,
what the supposed ghost of the departed prophet revealed was in great part
already well known to Saul, and may have been known to the woman. It needed no
spirit from the grave to tell them. And as for the prediction of Saul’s death
on the morrow, there are those who contend that the word rendered “tomorrow” is
of indefinite meaning denoting some time in the future. The prediction that
Saul and his sons would some day be with Samuel in the world of shadows was a
safe prediction, like many of the ancient oracles. But the chief objection is
simply to the idea that any arts possessed by the necromancer should have had
power to call forth the dead. It is sometimes assumed thaton this occasion God
wrought a miracle through the woman in order to inform Saul of his fate. But
this explanation is beset with insuperable difficulties. For according to it
God would be doing just what He had refused to do. He would be “answering” Saul
and satisfying his desire for a Divine communication. Again, it seems
incredible that God should lend sanction to the pretensions of a necromancer
when the practice of every such art was condemned under severest penalties by
the Divine law. When we read the narrative in the light of these
considerations, there is little difficulty in supposing that the whole thing
was a wilful imposture practised on a wretched and despairing man. Keep clear
thy faith in the Living God, the Righteous One and the Loving, and witchcraft
and all other superstitions will be powerless over thee. But lose hold of God
and you may drift into any dark and debasing belief. (J. Legge, M. A.)
Lessons from the incident at Endor
Solemn are the instructions to be gained from this incident.
1. We may have taken strong ground against some particular form of
evil, we may have condemned it in others, and we may, thus far, have acted
outwardly in consistency with God’s commands; but we may live to do the very
thing which we have condemned, to break the very commands to which we have
given an external homage. There may be motives for putting away one particular
form of sin, the operation of which may yet co-exist with a spirit unwilling to
yield to the fear of God, and unaffected by his love. It was not because Saul’s
heart was prepared to render allegiance to God that he put away witchcraft; but
because he would affect an outward regard for religion, or because he wished to
avenge his mental disquietude on those whom he deemed its cause, or because he
was in daily fear of some further mischief from them. The operation of these
motives, and their result, still left him a rebel, prepared at any time, when
the will of God crossed his own purpose, to resist the commands of the
Almighty. And wherever the spirit of opposition to the Divine will is
permitted, there is no security against its indulgence in any particular form;
and if circumstances arise to make it convenient, it may develop itself in the
identical manifestation which, in a previous stage of our history, we have been
most ardent and loud in condemning. Let us be assured that no outward
reformations are to be depended on, which do not issue from that radical change
of which the Holy Spirit is the author, and in which the whole heart is yielded
up to God.
2. We notice bow certainly a man loses his own dignity in proportion
as he recedes from the principle of obedience to God, and yields to the
guidance of his own heart. What term so aptly describes the condition of the
king of Israel in the witch’s abode at Endor, as that of degradation--deep,
thorough degradation. Be it ours to take warning. No station in life, however exalted--no
position, however respectable--no claims on the regard of society, however
strong--can stand against the degrading influence of indulged sin.
3. We are taught that mercies abused and privileges slighted may be
desired when they have been withdrawn, and when, in God’s providential
arrangements, they are no longer within our reach. While Samuel lived, his
counsel was treated with contempt; but when he could no longer be consulted,
then the very man who grieved him most was most anxious to have him back at any
cost. Let the sad spectacle awaken inquiry, How are you employing present
mercies? (J. A. Miller.)
The religion of ghosts
I. I learn first
from this subject that spiritualism is a very old religion. What does God think
of all these delusions? He thinks so severely of them that he never speaks of
them but with livid thunders of indignation. He says: “I will be a swift
witness against the sorcerer.” He says: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to
live.” And lest you might make some important distinction between Spiritualism
and witchcraft, God says, in so many words: “There shall not be among you a
consulter of familiar spirits, or wizard, or necromancer; for they that do
these things are an abomination unto the Lord.”
II. Still further:
we learn from this text now it is that people come to fall into spiritualism.
Saul had enough trouble to kill ten men. He did not know where to go for
relief. After awhile he resolved to go and see the witch of Endor. It was his
trouble that drove him there. And I have to tell you now that, spiritualism
finds its victims in the troubled, the bankrupt, the sick, the bereft.
III. I learn still
farther from this subject, that spiritualism and necromancy are affairs of the
darkness. Why did not Saul go in the day? He was ashamed to go. Besides that he
knew that this spiritual medium, like all her successors, performed her
exploits in the night.
IV. Still further,
that spiritualism is doom and death to its disciples. King Saul thought that he
would get help from the “medium;” but the first thing that he sees makes him
swoon away, and no sooner is he resuscitated than he is told he must die.
Spiritualism is doom and death to everyone that yields to. It ruins the body.
Spiritualism smites first of all, and mightily, against the nervous system, and
so makes life miserable.
V. I indict
spiritualism also, because it is a social and marital curse. The worst deeds of
licentiousness and the worst orgies of obscenity have been enacted under its
patronage.
VI. I further
indict spiritualism for the fact that it is the cause of much insanity.
VII. I bring against
this delusion a more fearful indictment: it ruins the soul immortal. The whole
system, as I conceive it, is founded on the insufficiency of the Word of God as
a revelation. God says the Bible is enough for you to know about the future
world. God has told you all you ought to know, and how dare you be prying into
that which is none of your business? You cannot keep the Bible in one hand and
spiritualism in the other. One or the other will slip out of your grasp, depend
upon it. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
Saul at Endor
The worlds are nearer together than we think! What is there in
reason, in the fitness of things, or in Scripture itself, to forbid the idea
that we are surrounded by spiritual existences? What is thy universe, O man?
Thou makest thine own creation. The pathetic incident shows:--
I. The rapidity
with which a man may fall from the highest eminence. “Because 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.” There is but a step between
thee and death!
II. The awful
possibility of being cut off from spiritual communication with the Divine and
invisible. “God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by
prophets nor by dreams.”
III. The certainty
that one day the impenitent will want their old teachers. “Bring me up Samuel.”
“I have called thee that thou mayest make known to me what I shall do.” The
solemn lesson of the whole is--Seek ye the Lord while He may be found! (J.
Parker, D. D.)
Spiritualism a folly
To meddle with the walls of separation that God has built is a
wrong and sinful thing. We have no business but in our own world. This dabbling
in spiritualism and communication with the departed is nothing more than folly.
It is unlawful, and has all the consequences of a broken law. There was an old
Scotch body, who was sitting by the deathbed of her only son. Trying to comfort
the grieving mother, the dying boy said: “Mother, if so be it’s permitted, I’ll
come from the dead to see thee.” “Na, us, lad,” she exclaimed; “keep to your
sin side.” It was a wise injunction. Keep to your own side. (J. Robertson.)
Verse 11
Bring me up Samuel.
Samuel after death
Wise reasons must have prevailed with God for the appearance of
Samuel. Dr. Hales has suggested the three following:
1. To make Saul’s crime the instrument of his punishment, in the dreadful
denunciation of his approaching doom.
2. To show to the heathen world the infinite superiority of the
Oracle of the Lord inspiring his prophets over the powers of darkness, and the
delusive prognostics of their wretched votaries in their false oracles.
3. To confirm the belief in a future state, by “one who rose from the
dead,” even under the Mosaical dispensation.
Taking the view now represented, we may draw some practical
conclusions from it.
1. The soul lives after death. Samuel’s appearance showed that his
soul still lived, though his body had died at Ramah and had been buried.
2. It is vain to pray to the dead. Scripture gives no encouragement
to this practice. This passage, and one in the New Testament, show the utter
hopelessness of finding comfort by this means. The word of God reveals the
mercy seat; and a prayer hearing God invites the sinner to ask mercy in the
name of Jesus. “If any man sin, he has an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous.” “He is able be save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
3. There is no oracle of the future but God’s. No evil spirit can
reveal the destiny of a soul, nor could he be trusted. No light that led astray
was ever light from heaven. The father of lies could not he entitled to credit
in his disclosures of our future. Departed saints are incapable of doing this.
They have not such a function assigned to them in the economy of the spiritual
world. (R. Steel.)
Saul in the cave at Endor
I. This is the cry
of a soul consciously deserted of God. “The Lord answered him not, neither by
dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”
1. God does sometimes desert the sinner even in this world. “My
Spirit shall not always strive with man.” “Ephraim is joined to idols; let him
alone.”
2. The consciousness of this desertion is the greatest misery. There
is no orphanage so bad as the orphanage of a soul--a soul that has lost its
God. It lives to sink deeper and deeper forever into ruin.
II. This is the cry
of a soul profoundly convinced of the value of a once neglected ministry. “See
that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for if they escaped not,” etc.
III. This is the cry
of a soul that had become the victim of delusions. The man’s mind under a sense
of guilt and Divine desertion had lost its balance; his intellect had been
hurled from the throne, and his imagination, under the despotism of a guilty
conscience, filled his soul with ghastly phantoms. Men talk of a sound mind in
a sound body, but there is no sound mind without a sound conscience--a
conscience freed from the sense of guilt, and attuned to the everlasting
harmonies of right. Reason in the atmosphere of a guilty conscience is like the
eye amidst the shower of pyrotechnic lights, dazzled with false visions. As we
build up our houses and our cities out of the rough materials taken from the
earth, so the imagination of a mind consciously deserted by God will build up
its world of woe out of the corrupt materials of its own heart.
IV. This is the cry
of a soul plunging into the depths of despair. When despair comes, a hopeless
darkness settles over the soul. The course of sin leads to despair. Every sin a
man commits he quenches a star in the firmament of hope. The moral of the whole
is this--the well-being of humanity consists in loving fellowship with the
Eternal Father. (Homilist.)
Without God, without hope
This was a cry wrung from the heart of a man who believed himself
forsaken by God. “His soul was orphaned,” without God in the world.”
1. Have you never felt that orphanage--when God seems to have gone
out from your heavens, and the universe appears a vast, sunless, godless
infinite, black as night? The world without a sun! The flower stems bend over
filled with icy tears shed for the loss of the sun that gave them all their
colours, the bleached leaves hang without a flutter in the still, cold air, or
fall rotting in the dark, the cattle of the field, perish for lack of sweet
food and soft warmth, and the shivering hearts of men freeze within them--for
the sun died last night. A soul without God, in awful solitude, starless,
sunless. If you have felt that orphanage, and lived through doubt and despair
to believe in God, happy are you. If you have never known it, happy are you
also.
1. Saul was without God in his soul--he was alone; what should he do?
Do! What could he do? Why could he not be quiet, and stop still? The sun would
not forever be on the under size of the world, the night would not last
foreverse One of the most fruitful errors of mankind is that irrepressible
desire to do something; men cannot wait. Pascal said that most of life’s evils
sprang from “man’s being unable to sit still in a room.” This restless unquiet
is the cause of business depression; men must speculate, “do something;” there
was a mania for excessive action.
2. Saul would do something, no matter what! He would seek a witch,
and she would raise up Samuel to him. Ill omens crowd his mind, and his heart
fell when he heard the mysterious seer from the afterworld add his ghostly word
to his own too sad prevision of disaster and ruin on the morrow. He needs no
ghost to tell him that, ‘tis already too surely known. Oh, power of conscience!
A guilty conscience fills the soul with phantoms that are tongued with evil.
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a soul. Conscience speaks in
whispers; but, if unheeded, its whispers echo quickly back and back from the
close walls of the dark prison house of the soul, until, gathering strength,
they reverberate like sounds of volleying thunder. Small as an earthworm,
conscience may swell, until at last it becomes a great stinging serpent.
3. Hope is belief in God; hope is the anchor of the soul, which,
tossed on the rolling ocean that is full to bursting, and driven helpless by
the wind that is wet with storms, is steady, for deep buried in God’s bosom is
the anchor, trust in our Father in heaven. The wise ancients said that Hope was
the only gift left in Pandora’s box; it is the last thing that dies in a man.
To lose hope is to lose oneself. By hope are we saved. Be not ashamed to hope;
hope the highest things. Such is our Christian duty. A soul losing hope in God
is like a traveller going down some mountainside as the broadening sun sets
behind him; at his every step his shadow widens, lengthens, blackens, till at
last he is shrouded in midnight darkness, and with way lost, tumbles over the
crag into ruin. Hope then in God; doubt but hastens peril. Look up, out, of
thyself; and learn that the darkness is thine own, that the heavens glow with
light. Thou despairest of good, saying that there is no sun? Open thy closed
eyes, the darkness is in thine own soul only. Despair is the only atheism;
hopelessness is unbelief in God; Hope thou; that is, believe in God; he that
believeth not is damned. But hope, which is the presence of God, never
dies--neverse (B. J. Snell, M. A.)
Verse 14
And Saul perceived that it was Samuel.
The appearance of Samuel
This is altogether a strange and mysterious scene. It is a
difficult and much debated question how we are to understand it. One or two
remarks is all that can be offered here. In the first place, there is no ground
whatever for supposing a collusion between the woman and Soul’s two servants.
Nor, secondly, is it at all tenable that Satan appeared, personating Samuel.
Whether, then, shall we hold that the whole phenomena both of sight and sound
formed a vision presented supernaturally by God; or as actual and literal
occurrence? Of visions there were two principal varieties: First, a symbolic
representation seen in a trance, such as that presented to Peter (Acts 10:1-48) or those brought
before the rapt mind of John (Revelation). Of this kind the scene before us
could not be an example. The figure is not symbolic. The state of mind is calm
and self-possessed. Secondly, a miraculous sight of objects real and present.
Of this sort were the vision of Zacharias (Luke 1:1-80); of the angels at the tomb (Luke 24:23); and of Moses and Elijah on
the mount (Matthew 17:9). In this latter
sense, the vision does not differ much from the literal understanding of the
occurrence. To the objection--that it was unjust to Samuel to “disquiet” him
thus, it may be answered that the word refers only to his change of place in
its outward aspect, and does not necessarily imply the endurance of pain. To
the other objection--that the figure was seen “ascending out of the earth” and
could not therefore represent the soul of Samuel, it may yet be deemed
satisfactory to say that the earth being the resting place of the body, and the
figure appearing in the character of a body, it was natural to present the
mysterious apparition as emerging from the ground; and that, whatever may be
thought of this, the objection holds equally against the visional supposition.
The last objection calling for notice takes higher ground, and the answer to it
will lead us in among the moral purposes served by this mysterious transaction.
“It was neither worthy of God, nor fitted to secure objects important enough to
commend to our reason an interposition such as the literary theory implies.” It
will be seen at once that any answer which disposes satisfactorily of the
second branch of the objection will be valid against the first. Now we shall
not have to go far in quest of important ends actually served by the
occurrence.
1. A stern rebuke to Saul. The guilty man had recourse to an agency
which his conscience condemned, and which his own recent enactment proscribed
as unlawful, and punished capitally as impious. The holy God met him in the
face on that forbidden ground, in that unhallowed work. And to be confronted
thus must have filled him with overwhelming confusion. The tenderhearted
prophet denounced him without reserve or mitigation. And rebukes never fall so
crushingly, or with such condemning evidence of their justice, as from the lips
of forbearing gentleness.
2. A solemn rehearsal of the law which regulated the national
fortunes. Calamity came in the wake of sin. The holy King of heaven constituted
them a people on that basis. His command was broken signally in the case of
Amalek. This dreadful offence was yet pouring out its vials of vengeance on the
land. The catastrophe announced by Samuel as immediately to occur was to
exhaust the dregs of this vengeance on the doomed dynasty of Saul. How wisely
adapted to strike through their conscience the conviction that this great
calamity was strictly punitive.
3. Proof that the God of Israel overruled all agencies of evil. It is
indeed a mysterious thing, and unexampled, that the holy Jehovah should be a
party in a scene like this. The same sovereign authority laid hold on Balaam,
and made the bad man a true prophet.
4. An exhibition of important facts from the spiritual world. The
existence of the soul after death; the continuance of all its powers, and among
them memory--stored with the recollections of the past; the perpetuation of
moral and spiritual character. (P. Richardson, B. A.)
The appearance of Samuel to Saul at Endor
There has been a great variety of sentiments among the learned and
very different accounts have been given of this famed adventure.
I. The truth of
the case. Some have thought that there was nothing more in it than trick and
legerdemain, whereby a cunning woman imposed upon Soul’s credulity. But this
opinion is highly improbable. For, if the woman had the sole conducting of that
affair, intending only to impose upon Saul, she would most undoubtedly have
contrived to make the pretended Samuel’s answer as agreeable and pleasing to
the King as possible, and that for her own sake especially; for fear of
offending Saul, and to save her own life, as well as to procure from Him the
larger gratuity. For it must be observed further, that what was here spoken as
from Samuel was really prophetic, and was punctually fulfilled a few days
after. None but God Himself could have revealed the secret. And how unlikely is
it that God should make use of this sorceress as a prophetess, and should give
her the honour of revealing his counsels. For these reasons, we may presume to
think and judge that the matter here related was not all a mere juggle or
contrivance of an artful woman, but something more. There was most certainly an
apparition in the ease, either of Samuel’s ghost, or of some other spirit
personating Samuel. I incline to think that Samuel really appeared. The reasons
for this interpretation are as follow:--
1. This method of proceeding is very conformable to what God had been
pleased to do before, in other cases of like nature. As Balak had recourse to
sorceries and divinations in hopes to procure some relief, or fair promises at
least from them. In like manner when King Ahaziah had sent to consult
Beelzebub, the demon of Ekron, to know whether he should recover of the
sickness he then lay under, hoping, no doubt, to obtain a favourable answer
there, as probably he might have done; God Himself took care to anticipate the
answer by Elijah the Prophet, who assured the messengers, meeting them by the
way, that their master Ahaziah should not recover, but should surely die. Thus
probably was it in the case of Saul.
2. This interpretation is plain and natural, and least forced of any,
agreeing well with the words of the text. The story is here told in such a way
as one would expect to find, upon the supposition it really was Samuel. So that
if we consider the letter of the text, and the most obvious and natural
construction of it we shall be obliged to confess that the apparition was
really Samuel and no other.
3. This construction is very ancient, the most ancient of any; and
seems indeed to have been the general persuasion of the Jewish Church long
before the coming of Christ. (Sirach 46:20). In the same sentiments was
Josephus the Jewish historian, who lived in the apostle’s times; and thus
thought many of the earliest Christian fathers.
II. Objections
answered. It is objected that the text speaks of bringing up Samuel as it were
out of the ground; whereas, if it had been Samuel, he should rather have come
down from heaven. But the true reason why Samuel is represented as being
brought up is because his body was under ground, to which his soul was still
conceived to bear a relation; and it was upon this chiefly, that the popular
prevailing notion of all separate souls being in the heart of the earth, was
founded.
2. But it is further objected that the apparition here in the person
of Samuel complains to Saul of being disquieted or disturbed by him. But God
Almighty with whom the spirits of just men made perfect dwell, might please to
send Samuel upon that occasion, to deliver the message from him.
3. But it is further objected that it is hard to give a reason why
God, Who had refused to answer Saul either by dreams, or by Urim, or by
prophets, should at length vouchsafe to answer him in such a way as this, and
by the mediation of a wicked sorceress. But it may be easy to account for God’s
answering Saul in this way, as it was exposing and afflicting him more severely
than in any other, after he had richly deserved it.
4. But it is still further objected thatthe predict, ions of the
apparition, under the name of Samuel, were not true, and therefore could not be
Samuel’s. But the things foretold were exactly verified, and the event answered
to the prophecy in every particular. The things came to pass four or five days
after. It says, Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. But it is
acknowledged by the best critics that the word which we render in English,
tomorrow, may as welt be rendered very shortly, which it really signifies in
this place.
5. Well, but is it not said, Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with
me? Was Saul, then, so wicked a man, to go after death to the same blessed
place with righteous Samuel? The text determines nothing at all of the state of
either after death, All that is meant by the words, Thou shalt be with me, is,
Thou shalt die; add so it proved.
III. Practical uses.
1. Observe how careless and unthinking men are apt to be in their
prosperity, and till the hour of distress comes.
2. That in such cases, generally, God very justly turns away His ear,
and will vouchsafe no answer in the ordinary way, to such grievous offender.
3. Observe, further, how miserable, how melancholy a thing it is for
a man to have sinned to such a degree as to be entirely abandoned by God, and
to have the best friend in the world become his enemy. The practical conclusion
from the whole is that we learn to set a true value upon God’s favour and
friendship, and that, we use our utmost endeavours both to procure and to
preserve it. (D. Waterland, D. D.)
Verse 15
God is departed from me.
“Without God in the world”
It is not in the power of language to depict a more terrible and
hopeless condition for a rational creature to be in than that set forth in
these five words of Scripture. And the climax of Paul’s description of man’s
unregenerate state is: “Having no hope, and without God in the world.” Let us
glance at the true meaning and significance of the words.
1. They do not mean that God has absolved them from all
obligation--no longer sustains relations with them--has withdrawn His
supervision and feels no concern on their account. For He holds them to strict
account the same as with other men; He takes cognizance of their daily conduct,
the same as if they were on terms of intimacy.
2. But they do mean:
3. Glance at the awfulness of such a condition!
Humanity consciously deserted of God
There are two stages in the history of human depravity.
1. Man deserts God. God calls, and man refuses.
2. God deserts man. The Eternal departs from him, which means a
discontinuance of the overtures of His love, and His agencies to restore; it is
leaving man to himself, to reap the labour of his own hands; it is the
physician giving up the patient; the tender father closing the door against his
reprobate child. In the first stage, we find the vast majorities of mankind in
every age; in the second, we may find some of earth in every period. This stage
is hell. The first stage is probation; the second stage is retribution. This
second and final stage Saul had reached. All guiding oracles were hushed to
him. The Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by
prophets. Deep is the necessity he feels for supernatural help. He feels
himself deserted by God. This passage presents three considerations concerning
mankind in this state.
I. That humanity
under a consciousness of God’s desertion will ever be impressed with the need
of the forfeited means of Divine communion. There was a time when Saul had
communications with his Maker. The prophets were accessible to him. He could
consult the Urim on the breast of the high priest; but he had lost all now: he
had slain the high priest; Samuel was dead; the Spirit of the Lord forsook him,
and the heavens were closed against him. How deep and earnest is the cry,
“Bring me up Samuel.” Oh! for one word from God now. Oh! that I could have but
one more message from those sealed heavens. The deep cry of humanity, under a
consciousness that God had deserted it, is, “Oh! that I knew but where I might,
find him.” Captives away in Babylon, how did the Jews value the temple which,
perhaps, they often neglected when at home? Sinner, value and improve the means
of Divine communion now: God is speaking to you, through ministers, the Bible,
and other books.
II. That humanity,
under a consciousness of God’s desertion, becomes the subject of fearful
delusions. Such delusions seem to me to spring naturally from his excited state
of mired.
1. It presented a vivid vision of the teacher whose counsels had been
neglected. The imagination of a conscience-stricken sinner will bring old
reechoes from their graves, give them voice, and make them speak again.
2. It proclaimed the sin and pronounced the doom. (1 Samuel 28:18-19.) Imagination
now gives a voice of thunder to all this whispering of conscience. Imagination
is a terrible faculty, when swayed by a guilty conscience. What visions it can
unfold! It can create a subjective world, whose firmament is “black as
sackcloth,” whose tenants are fiends, whose stormy atmosphere is rent by
lightnings and loaded with shrieks of anguish.
III. That humanity,
under a consciousness of God’s desertion, must sink into unmitigated despair.
Here is despair prostrating the man. The guilty mind, in despair, loses three
elements of power.
1. Hope. What an inspiring element is this! How it sustains under
trial! How it stimulates in enterprise!
2. Purpose. Mind is only powerful and happy as it has some purpose to
engage its attention and energies: but in despair there is no purpose; the mind
looks abroad on the dark universe and finds nothing to do.
3. Sympathy. A God-deserted mind has no sympathy: all hearts recoil
from a sin-convicted soul, and it turns in upon itself. (Homilist.)
Abandoned of God
It is the saddest, the most despairing confession that ever fell
from human lips. We can sympathise with the bitterness of the more ordinary
losses and bereavements of men. But we cannot rise to the full agony of Saul’s
confession, nor sympathise with the sadness and hopelessness of spirit that
wail through it, like the winds through the vaults of the dead.
I. We consider the
departure of God. There are two sets of moral forces in the world contending
with each other for the possession of the spirit of man, called in Scripture
the one, the powers of the world to come; the other, the powers of this present
evil world. The former is a holy beneficent order of influences which have
their source in the nature and life of God; the latter is a destructive,
despoiling, degrading order. Now, just as the laws and forces of the material
world build up the external economy of things, so do these two sets of
influences mould and form human character. They are obviously diametrically
opposed to each other in their aim and tendency; they try to bear and pull the
spirit of life in each man in opposite directions. What therefore had happened
in the experience of Saul was this: that the set of virtues or holy energies
that have their origin in God and that pull men Godward, had ceased to strive
for the possession of his spirit; and had left him to the undisputed
sovereignty of the powers of this present evil world. And look at what happened
in the nature of Saul when God had departed from him in this sense--the only
sense in which God ever departs from a man. His once fine and brave and manly
nature--manly and brave and fine as long as God stayed to make and keep it
so--grew suspicious and bitter and restless, and filled with slavish fear. It
is a law which holds for all time, which is as fixed and unalterable as the
laws of the physical universe; it is an eternal law that separation from God
involves moral disorder, and the tyranny of all the destroying influences that
prey upon human hearts. Saul’s experience unfolds to us what would happen did
God depart from the social life of today, be it village life, or commercial
life, or court life; did He depart from any of the spheres of life where men
meet and associate and deal with men. Society is impossible without the felt
presence of God, warring against sin and keeping it down in the hearts of men.
And in the case of the individual, too, every kind of moral disorder and
wretchedness is involved in the departure of God. The individual soul is the
realm of God’s most holy and blessed activities. Oh, it is fearful when God, as
the moral force in the soul, departs from a man; for in this world there is a
great conspiracy and confederacy against our truest good, the cunning of which
God alone can baffle and God alone can confound. Without Him our very
conceptions of righteousness will be unworthy; our consciences will get seared,
as though a hot iron had passed over them, deadening their sensitive papillae;
our hearts will give birth to bad devices, unholy plans, and thoughts of
lawless and forbidden pleasures. Our whole nature will get cankered and
corrupted, unless the sweet, refreshing waters of life are ever circulating in
us. In short, there is no crime or sin which is not possible to, and likely to
happen in, the life of the man from whom God has departed.
II. We have now to
consider what Saul had done to compel God to depart. It was Saul’s disobedience
and perverseness of temper that drove God away. By the requisite devices of
overlooking, despising, rejecting, wearying, and tiring out the reproving
presence of God’s spirit in him, he bad succeeded in making complete isolation
between his soul and the Soul of souls. He determined against his better reason
to keep his sins and his bad heart, and to take his own will and way. Never
does the great Father of us all send an evil spirit into the hearts and minds
of men. Every spirit that cornea from God, comes of holy ministries of love and
blessing; comes to strive to bring bad men under the power of goodness; comes
to war a noble warfare with the evil which Saul grappled to his soul as though
it were his tried and adopted friend. What is it that turns God into a
relentless foe? or, rather, what is it that so throws our eyes off the straight
line of moral vision that we seem to see the great loving Father and a tyrant?
We say, sin. Yes; but what kind of sin? Such sins as those of Noah, David, and
Peter--drunkenness, lust and murder, falsehood and profanity--alienate God till
the dark hour of anguish Domes, but do not compel an absolute departure. The
sin of Saul must have been the unpardonable one--the resolute refusal to
surrender the spirit of our life into God’s hands that we may be formed and
shaped by Him. (James Forfar.)
Saul God forsaken
What a complication of calamities! What a deluge of distress and
misery!
I. Reflect a
moment on the language of his complaint. “The Philistines are come upon me.”
However disproportionate the forces of a defending army, a Christian king and a
Christian people are secure. “A thousand shall fall at their side, and ten
thousand at their right hand, but it shall not Dome nigh them.” But when a man
forsakes the Lord until the season of distress, who can wonder if his
repentance is destitute of the character of sincerity, and he is left to
perish. “If ye walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you,” is the
threatening of that God who has justice as well as mercy.
1. But still, listen to his cry, “The Lord hath forsaken me.” This is
indescribably dreadful! Better that all the world should leave us, better that
we lose our health, our strength, our property, our friends, than be forsaken
of Him whose smile is Heaven, whose frown is hell. What a state of abandonment,
what a state of orphanage! With no eye to pity, with no arm to save. But what
follows from such withdrawment of the greatest and the best of Beings? Penal
blindness of mind, hardness of heart, the uncontrolled sway of evil passions,
left a prey to the tempter, and to the influence and associations of wicked
men. But this is not all; hear him yet again: “And the Lord answers me not,
neither by prophets nor by dreams.” This, if possible, is still more
distressing and dreadful than before. What a privilege is prayer! What must it
be to have our prayers rejected.
II. The method
which he adopted to obtain relief. What a wretched expedient for soothing the
anguish of a guilty conscience! And yet how often do we see subterfuges,
equally untenable and unsafe, resorted to by transgressors to stifle
conviction, to prevent reflection, to silence the accusations of a guilty mind,
and to obtain a little temporary relief.
III. Let us now
contemplate his overthrow--his monitory death. What does this subject suggest
for our mutual improvement?
1. How possible it is to live and die without hope in the world
though surrounded by religious advantages.
2. We learn the awful consequences of rebellion against God. (B.
Leach.)
Reprobation
I desire to set before you the end to which in this world allowed
sin brings finally the impenitent man. Now that state is spoken of in God’s
Word under various awful descriptions. It is described as one in which the
heart is hardened; as one in which a man is “given over to a reprobate mind;”
in which he is “to every good work reprobate;” in which men “have given
themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
They are spoken of as “reprobate concerning the faith;” as having “treasured
up” for themselves “wrath against the day of wrath;” as having “grieved,”--yea,
and “quenched,”--the “Holy Spirit of God.” Now these passages of God’s Word
suffice of themselves to show that there is here in this world such a state as
that of final impenitence: and what can be added to those words to describe its
misery and horror! Yet it may be well for us, instead of simply resting in
them, to examine more in detail wherein their fearfulness consists; that so, of
God’s mercy, we may be driven by the sight to cry to Him with greater
earnestness to save us from all danger of failing ourselves into this most
deadly state.
1. Now, in entering on this subject, we must remember what is
involved in that certain truth which is set before us from one end of the Bible
to the other, namely, that we, in this world, are really in a state of
probation.
2. Now, mark how that probation is accomplished:
“Grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God.” Now the effect of such conduct on an earthly
friend would be that it would lead him to withdraw himself from the intimate
relationship of an undisturbed affection; and so we are taught that from the
heart so resisting Him the Holy One withdraws Himself. Now as a necessary
consequence of such a withdrawal, the progress of the forsaken soul towards
final hardness is inevitable. The injured quality of the soil makes it need
more urgently than before, if it is to yield any good upgrowth, the refreshment
of cooling showers, and at that very time the decree has gone forth to the
clouds of heaven that they rain no rain upon it.
3. What the downward process of such a soul must be we may see at
once by recalling what we saw to be the Spirit’s gracious influences upon one
whom He was sanctifying, and so estimating the consequences of their
withdrawal. For reproofs for sin would in such a heart sink first into a whisper,
and then die out in silence. And as they expired the conscience would be struck
with dumbness, and the first cause therefore of a saving penitence would be
removed. Next, the secret voice teaching the heart, and reminding it of the
words of Christ, would cease to speak; and with this would fail also those
first drawings of the affections towards God, which are as the tender bud of a
future penitence, and which can awaken only beneath the Cross of Christ, and
within the sound of His words of love, as the Blessed Spirit reveals them to
the soul. So that there would be in such a heart nothing to begin that work of
true repentance, which without the aid of the good Spirit cannot originate in
fallen man. Nor is even this all. For in this heart there would be no shedding
abroad the sweet reviving influences of love; there would be no sealing it by
the pressure of a moulding hand to the day of redemption. So that such a heart
must harden daily. The law of evil must daily pervade it more thoroughly, until
it comes to choose sin as sin: whilst from such a state there is nothing to
awaken it. And this is the awful, hopeless, rayless, outer darkness of the full
and final impenitence of a reasonable soul which has failed utterly in its
moral probation. Here, then, we reach the consummation of this course. It leads
down to an impenitent despair. At this point, then, let us for a moment pause,
and see the conclusion we have reached. It is, that this state of final,
hopeless impenitence is the natural conclusion of a life spent under the
influences of God’s Blessed Spirit by a reasonable moral agent, who by his
neglect of or resistance to them, makes them turn into his uttermost
condemnation. For as death can come to no man by chance, as the time of closing
his day of trial must be exactly and certainly fixed for every man by God’s
sovereign Will, does it not necessarily follow from the fact of God having
placed him in this probation, that no man is taken from his life of trial with
the trial incomplete? that no branch in the living Vine is taken away until it
is indeed certain that it will bear no fruit. In fine, instead of its being a
rare and uncommon thing for men to reach a state of final impenitence, it is
the real and most awful secret of every hopeless death. And if this be so, with
what a dreadful character does this truth invest every allowance of wilful sin
in us Christians! That probation differs, of course, necessarily in every
different man. The same act of sin may embody in itself, in the case of two
different men, utterly different degrees of resistance to the Holy Spirit. Such
is the lesson taught us by the examples set before us in God’s Word. Yet two
such examples at least there are set before us in its pages--that of Saul in
the Old Testament, and that of Judas in the New. In the history of Saul are
traced with minuteness of detail the gifts of grace against which his sins of
self-will and rebellion against Gad had been committed, until “the Spirit of
the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
Thenceforward the features of one whose heart was hardening look ever out upon
us from his life. And to what an end does all this bring him! Who can read
unmoved the record of those wild throbbings of despair which drove him, who in
his better day had cut off those that had familiar spirits and the wizards from
the land, to the sorceress at Endor; or the history of all that there awaited
him? The deceitful tempter, now turned into the merciless accuser, took up the
fierce utterance of that still hard though broken heart--“I am sore
distressed,” etc. Here is no mingling of mercy with judgment, no call to
repentance, no sweet whisper of pardon. These, then, are our lessons from this
fearful subject. First, that we strive diligently to maintain such a temper of
watchful observance for the motions of the Blessed Spirit as that we may never
unawares resist or neglect any of His lightest intimations. Without this
watchful observance we are sure to interrupt His work. For if the soul be heated
with worldliness, or covered with the dust of the earth, how shall it receive
those heavenly colours with which He would brighten and adorn it? if it be
perpetually distracted by ten thousand cares, how shall it be ready to
entertain His presence? Lastly, if through our exceeding feebleness we have
fallen, let us learn to look straight to the cross of Christ, and strive
diligently in His strength to arise again; that we fly to Him as for our lives,
crying only to Him out of our low estate, “Forsake not, O Lord, the work of
Thine own hands: Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Holy
Spirit, from me.” (Bishop Wilberforce.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》