Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 28:15 - 28:25

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 28:15 - 28:25


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



The Answer Received by Saul

v. 15. And Samuel,
the apparition of the evil spirit which had the form of Samuel, said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed, in great straits; 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, have caused thee to be called, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. There was a contradiction in Saul's appeal, which shows that he knew himself to be asking counsel of the devil, for if God would not answer him by the living prophets, what satisfaction could he have gotten from the dead? This is also brought out by the spirit.

v. 16. Then said Samuel, Wherefore, then, dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee and is become thine enemy?
And now the apparition, evidently even now invisible to the eyes of Saul, announces his fate to him.

v. 17. And the Lord bath done to Him,
for Himself, according to His own counsel, as He spake by me; for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David. So the complete realization and definite fulfillment of the divine sentence of rejection was now at hand.

v. 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,
His judgment would now be carried out.

v. 19. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines,
for the people were guilty with their king; and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me, in the kingdom of death; the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. The defeat of Israel, the death of Saul and his sons, and the complete destruction of the camp of Israel were the three decisive blows which would fall on Saul.

v. 20. Then Saul,
overcome by the horror of the Revelation fell straightway all along on the earth, he suddenly, from his kneeling position, pitched forward at full length on the floor, and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread, partaken of no food, all the day nor all the night.

v. 21. And the woman came unto Saul,
hurried to his side, and saw that he was sore troubled, greatly terrified, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, in exercising her powers of conjuring against the Law of Jehovah and the land, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me. She exhibited natural sympathy with the king, worn out by excitement and abstinence from food as he was, this being the consideration which prompted her to offer him her hospitality.

v. 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,
urging him, as we would say, to have at least a bite; and eat that thou mayest have strength when thou goeston thy way.

v. 23. But he,
still lying on the floor, refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him, they urged him so long until he was persuaded; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed, the divan, or sofa.

v. 24. And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted and killed it, and took fiour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof,
for there was no time to set yeast;

v. 25. and she brought it before Saul and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up and went away that night.
Thus Saul, in dull despair, ran into his destruction, an example of warning to all who harden their hearts to the influence of the Lord.