Articles
“The Witch of Endor”
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.”
1 Samuel 28:15
The account of the witch of Endor in 1 Samuel 28 raises several difficult questions: Was she truly able to summon the dead? Was the spirit that appeared really Samuel? Where did this spirit come from? And since the spirit tells Saul that he and Jonathan will “be with me,” does that suggest Saul was saved or lost?
The text does not provide definitive answers to every question we might ask. We know that the Law of Moses clearly condemned necromancy (Deut. 18:9-12). The Law called such practices abominations—it never claimed they didn’t “work.” We cannot infer from this text whether occult practices are effective or not. Regardless, would we expect the Bible to give saints detailed instructions on how to perform a seance? Clearly the text warns us against ever doing such a thing.
Perhaps your recollection of this story is a little cloudy. Here’s a refresher. Saul’s decision to seek out a medium was the result of a long spiritual and political decline. Over time, he had repeatedly disobeyed God’s commands—most notably by offering unauthorized sacrifices (1 Sam. 13) and by sparing King Agag and the Amalekite spoils (1 Sam. 15). As a result, God rejected Saul as king and withdrew his Spirit from him (16:14). Samuel, God’s prophet and Saul’s means of receiving guidance, distanced himself from Saul and eventually died (25:1).
Meanwhile, David, whom God had chosen to replace Saul, was gaining strength and popularity. By the time of 1 Samuel 28, Saul faced a massive Philistine army and was overwhelmed with fear. He sought guidance from the Lord, but God gave him no answer—neither through dreams, nor prophets, nor the Urim (28:6). Isolated and desperate for direction, Saul turned to the very thing he had once outlawed: he sought a medium to contact Samuel’s spirit. This act of necromancy marked the tragic low point of Saul’s reign, showing how far he had fallen.
Was the spirit that appeared really Samuel, or a demon impersonating him? The text strongly indicates that it was indeed Samuel. The message the spirit delivers (16-19) is entirely consistent with what Samuel had declared during his lifetime (cf. 15:17-19, 22-23, 28). Saul receives no new revelation—only a reiteration of the judgment he already knew. Some scholars suggest that the medium’s startled reaction (28:12) implies she was a fraud and did not expect a genuine encounter with a spirit. Whatever the case, it appears that God allowed a true manifestation of Samuel’s spirit through a forbidden means—not to endorse necromancy, but to confirm Saul’s complete rejection and the certainty of his impending judgment.
Where did the spirit come from? The text says that Samuel was “brought up,” suggesting he came from Sheol, the Old Testament term for the realm of the dead. When Samuel tells Saul that he and his sons will be “with me” the next day (28:19), he is simply stating that they will die and join him in death—he is not making any judgment about Saul’s eternal destiny. Therefore, we cannot determine Saul’s salvation status based on this statement alone.
What does this text teach the church today? To grasp its relevance, we must consider the broader narrative context. The previous chapter (1 Sam. 27) describes David’s moral and spiritual dilemma. Though living among the Philistines and serving as a mercenary under King Achish, David was secretly attacking Israel’s enemies—not Israel itself. But in 1 Samuel 28:1-2, the Philistines prepare to march against Israel, and David appears trapped. He cannot fight against his own people, yet his position with the Philistines is precarious. When told he will march with the Philistines against Israel, David replies enigmatically, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” (28:2)
At this critical moment, the narrative abruptly shifts from David to Saul and his desperate visit to the medium at Endor (1 Sam. 28:3ff), the night before the battle. The author is intentionally placing these two crises side by side, inviting a comparison. David is among the Philistines but God is with him. Saul is facing the Philistines yet with no guidance from the Lord. As 1 Samuel 28:6 (also v. 15) states, “And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.” The two stories press the question upon us: whose sandals would we rather be in?
Saul’s greatest problem was not the Philistines—it was the silence of God. He stood on the eve of battle completely cut off from divine counsel. This contrast drives home a sobering truth: it is far worse to face life’s battles without the word of God than to be surrounded by enemies but still walking with him. For saints today, this passage warns us of the danger of drifting from God to the point that we no longer hear his voice in Scripture—and it reminds us that the presence of God is our greatest security, no matter how dire the situation.
Don’t get sidetracked by questions about whether necromancy works or whether Saul was saved. A.W. Tozer once said when asked whether Demas (2 Tim. 4:10) was ultimately saved or lost, “All I can say is that the last time we see Demas, he was walking in the wrong direction.” The same can be said of Saul. The final image we have is him walking into the night, cut off from God and his word (28:25). That should unsettle us. Fear doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, especially if it causes us to turn around and start heading in the right direction.
