1 Samuel 28
Samuel is dead. The Lord will not answer. On the eve of battle, Saul secretly goes to a medium and asks her to raise Samuel from the dead.
Summary
Chapter 28 is the book's most theologically unusual chapter and one of its most psychologically acute. The Philistines have mobilized for a campaign that will end at Jezreel. Saul sees the Philistine camp and is filled with fear — the text says his heart trembled greatly. He inquires of the Lord by the usual means: dreams, Urim, prophets. Nothing. The silence is the most eloquent form of abandonment. Samuel, whose channel to the Lord has been Saul's lifeline since chapter 10, is dead. Saul is alone with an army and a battle he cannot see through.
Saul, who in his earlier days had expelled all the mediums and spiritists from the land in obedience to the Torah, now sends his servants to find one. They find a medium at Endor. Saul disguises himself and goes to her at night with two companions. He asks her to perform a séance and calls up Samuel. The medium performs the ritual and something happens — she sees what rises and cries out in terror. She describes the figure: an old man coming up, wrapped in a robe. Saul recognizes Samuel from the description and prostrates himself. Samuel's voice is harsh and final. Why have you disturbed me? I already told you this: the Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to David because you did not obey the Lord. And now: tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. Saul collapses, full length, his strength gone. The medium urges him to eat; he refuses, then yields. She gives him a meal. He eats. He rises and goes out into the night. The reader knows, and Saul knows, what tomorrow holds.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.