1 Samuel 28:3-25
3 Now 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. 4 And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. 5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. 6 And when Saul enquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 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. 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. 9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 10 And Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. 11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. 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. 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. 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. 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. 16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? 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: 18 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. 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. 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. 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. 22 Now 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. 23 But 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. 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: 25 And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.
Last week, we began by calling to mind the story of Charles Templeton and Billy Graham. Both started with promise and Templeton with more proinance than Graham. However, time revealed that Templeton never truly believed or held to the things he preached earlier in his life when he walked away from the Christian faith. We looked at the similarity between this and the lives of the two kings of 1 Samuel, Saul and David. Despite his great promise and looking the part, Saul’s character consistently revealed that his heart was far from the Lord. Despite his early obedience and successes, Saul continually rebelled against the Lord and refused to repent and accept God’s judgment. This led him to a decade of persecuting God’s chosen king, David, who, although imperfect, consistently revealed himself to be a man “after” God’s “own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). Saul’s career as king began with him persecuting witches and removing them from Israel and it reached its disastrous end with him consulting a witch in a disguise under the cover of night. Last week, we learned from Saul’s encounter with the witch about the danger of unrepentant sin. We learned that it leads us blinding hardness where we no longer listen to nor hear from the Lord and we learned that it leads to unthinkable action where we will accept and tolerate the unrighteous things we once opposed. This week, we will learn two more things that unrepentant sin leads a person to.
Thirdly, we learn that sin leads to fearful condemnation. After asking for the witch to conjure up Samuel, the witch realized that it was Saul that was her consultee that evening. Naturally, she was afraid because before her was a man who had formerly sought her life and the lives of others like her. Ironically, the man who came to her driven by fear told her to “Be not afraid.” How hypocritical he had become. Blind in his sin, Saul was now on her side because he desperately sought her help. She conjured up Samuel and saw him as “an old man” who was “covered with a mantle.” Samuel spoke to Saul and asked Saul why he had him conjured up, to which Saul responded by telling Samuel how helpless his predicament was. Rather than sympathy or help from Samuel, Saul got more of the same that he had received from Israel’s prophet while he was alive. Samuel rebuked Saul and reminded him that his sin had made God is “enemy” (v. 16). He reminded Saul that the kingdom was torn from him and was given to David because of Saul’s disobedience (v. 17-18). He revealed to Saul that Israel would suffer a great defeat at the hands of the Philistines the very next day and that Saul would die in the battle (v. 19). Whether or not the witch actually conjured up Samuel is one of those mysteries we cannot fully solve here, but it seems that the Lord allowed Samuel (or a spirit) to speak the truth to Saul one final time. What was said was consistent with Samuel and the Lord’s messages to Saul throughout his life. Further, 1 Samuel 31 reveals that what Samuel said that evening came to pass the very next day. Regardless of the specifics of how it happened, the Lord got His final message of judgment to Saul and Saul was naturally devastated. He had not eaten all that day and had “no strength” left “in him” after receiving the message of his doom (v. 20). Saul had been fasting that day. Why would this man fast and try to seek the Lord knowing where he stood in his unrepentant sin? Just like when he had tried to say he would offer the animals that he disobediently kept alive from the Amalekites as offerings to the Lord (1 Samuel 15:22-23), so now he tried to do some outwardly religious thing that may have served to appease his guilt or, in his mind, manipulate God. Apostates like Saul are marked out as hypocrites. Instead of turning to the Lord in humility, they go about persisting in religious duty, religious morality, or religious observance. Such have no trouble doing outwardly right and religious things, but they refuse to deal with sin in the heart and personal matters of obedience. They do the acceptable or programmed thing that checks the box outwardly before others or in their own mind, but those things are absent of true obedience, humility, and submission before God. Many will come before Jesus having done plenty of religious and “righteous” activity one day and hear “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23). Saul’s end was death. He could only wait and, within the next 24 hours, his miserable journey would end in a shameful defeat and suicide. Richard Phillips reminds us, “when God abandons man, He assigns him the judgment of death.” That is true. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Lastly, we learn that sin leads to comfortable deception. As if matters couldn’t get any worse for Saul, verses 21-25 reveal that Saul and the men that were with him ended up feasting with the witch. She offered him “bread” and, after being coaxed by his men, he ate. Verses 24-25 reveal that they did more than share a meal; they had a feast. A “fat calf” was reserved for parties and big celebrations. Saul and his men ended up feasting with her. In the Bible, eating carried with it the idea of fellowship and partnership. When people shared a meal, it meant more than just filling their stomachs with the same food. It meant a shared life. Saul’s kingship began with him persecuting witches. Now, he was partying with one. Saul’s “last supper” actually serves as a pattern in Scripture. First, it calls to mind the Passover in Exodus 12 where the Israelites ate “unleavened bread” just as the witch made for him. The Israelites ate the Passover just before God delivered His people out of Egypt and from under Pharaoh’s rule. At Saul’s “last supper,” the Lord would deliver Israel from his sinful rule and start the process of enthroning David in His place. Saul’s “last supper” also reminds us New Testament Christians of the Lord’ Supper when Judas went out to betray Jesus. Judas’s last action with the disciples that evening was to dip and eat with the Lord before going out to finalize his betrayal. Saul’s final action as king before his death at the hands of the Philistines was to eat with a witch. Both ate in betrayal to the Lord. Both of their lives met a tragic end suicide. John 13:30 includes a detail regarding Judas, “He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.” 1 Samuel 28:25 tells us after Saul’s meal with the witch, “Then they rose up, and went away that night.” The “night” in both places emphasizes the darkness of sin in their hearts. Judas went out on that night to commit the most heinous crime in history, betraying the Son of God. Saul went out on this night having sealed his doom by never turning to the Lord. God established a principle in Genesis 6:3 when He said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” There is a day when God will speak to us for the last time in our sin. Our unrepentance will only go on so long before the night closes in on us and we are made comfortable in deception. When we are able to sit down with sin and have sweet fellowship with it and those in it, we have reached a dark place. Isaiah 55:6-7 implores us what to do when God speaks, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
How miserable the condition of one who has given themselves over to sin and will not repent. The earnest prayer of this pastor is that God would grant us all repentance through the conviction of His Spirit and that we would all be humble and contrite before Him. Life is too short and Hell is real. Isaiah 5:14 warns us of the terrible end of sin and unrepentance saying, “hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.” Nearly two thousand years ago, the same arrogant, unbelief confronted the Lord Jesus Christ as He rode into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday as God’s greater Anointed King (Messiah). The religious leaders would plot to put Him to death in their jealous hatred of Him that mirrored that of King Saul’s. Most of the others in the crowd that cheered Jesus on and shouted “Hosanna!” would later that same week shout “Crucify Him!” Many that profess Jesus’s name have never truly come to Him in humility. The battle between the kingdoms of this world and the Lord’s Anointed King still rages on as the world opposes His followers. The question for each of us today is, “Which kingdom are you in?” The “poor in Spirit” will inherit God’s kingdom. It consists of those who have humbled themselves and repented before Him to be transformed by His grace. But those who stiffen their neck in rebellion will quickly come to destruction with the world. Is holding onto sin really worth it? Is what other people think about us if we humble ourselves and confess our sin really that big of a deal? Humble yourself today and avoid “The Dark Night of Sin.”