The Philistines are marching into battle; where is Saul? Answer: scared to death:

The Philistines had mustered their troops and camped at Shunem. Saul had assembled all Israel and camped at Gilboa. But when Saul saw the Philistine troops, he shook in his boots, scared to death. (1 Samuel 28.4, 5, MSG)

The guy who at the beginning of his career was filled with the Spirit and confidently led the nation into battle, was now on his own and rightfully terrified:

Saul prayed to GOD, but GOD didn’t answer—neither by dream nor by sign nor by prophet. (1 Samuel 28.6, MSG)

What to do? Here’s where it gets weird. The Law was clear about consulting mediums:

A man or woman who is a medium or sorcerer among you must be put to death. You must kill them by stoning. They’re responsible for their own deaths. (Leviticus 20.27, MSG)

This apparently, is one more law the Israelites ignored because the chapter opens with an aside:

Saul had long since cleaned out all those who held seances with the dead. (1 Samuel 28.3, MSG)

It’s hard to clean out people who aren’t there! But even though they weren’t supposed to be there, and King Saul had gotten rid of those who were there, Saul wants to consult one, and his officials, shockingly, know where one is!

So Saul ordered his officials, “Find me someone who can call up spirits so I may go and seek counsel from those spirits.” His servants said, “There’s a witch at Endor.” (1 Samuel 28.7, MSG)

Saul disguises himself (how do you disguise the tallest guy in the country?) and goes to see her. She calls up Samuel, whose death is recorded in 1 Samuel 25. This is the only recorded seance in the Bible, as far as I remember, and I’m not going to speculate on all that’s going on. What’s clear is that Saul, for all this trouble, gets the same message he already heard:

Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by calling me up?” “Because I’m in deep trouble,” said Saul. “The Philistines are making war against me and God has deserted me—he doesn’t answer me any more, either by prophet or by dream. And so I’m calling on you to tell me what to do.” “Why ask me?” said Samuel. “GOD has turned away from you and is now on the side of your neighbor. GOD has done exactly what he told you through me—ripped the kingdom right out of your hands and given it to your neighbor. It’s because you did not obey GOD, refused to carry out his seething judgment on Amalek, that GOD does to you what he is doing today. Worse yet, GOD is turning Israel, along with you, over to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And, yes, indeed, GOD is giving Israel’s army up to the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 28.15 – 19, MSG, emphasis mine)

It’s the same message Samuel gave Saul back in chapter 15:

Samuel said, “GOD has just now torn the kingdom from you, and handed it over to your neighbor, a better man than you are. (1 Samuel 15.28, MSG)

We’ll get to the battle in chapter 31 in a couple of days, where Saul and his sons will join Samuel in death.

In the meantime, let’s be obedient to what we know:

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. (James 1.22 – 24, MSG)

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, MSG)

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29.29, ESV)

PS For those in breathless anticipation of whether or not we’re doing a road trip “planned” to start April 23, we are now shooting for September.