The Philistines started their massive invasion of
Israel. They entered the land and set up camp.
Saul gathered his army and made preparations
for war. His body shook with fear when he saw
how large the Philistine army was.
He asked the Lord for guidance, but God
didn’t talk to him. All was silent. There wasn’t a
dream, or a priest, or a prophet that gave him a
message from the Lord.
He wanted to talk to Samuel, but he was
dead and Saul had removed everyone who
claimed to be able to speak to the dead. Still he
desperately wanted to talk to Samuel. He said to
his servants, “Find a woman who can talk to the
spirits of those who have died. I need to find out
what’s going to happen.”
They said, “There is a woman at Endor. She
says she can talk to the dead.”
That night Saul put on a disguise, took two
servants, and went to the woman’s house. He
said to her, “I want you to bring up a spirit for
me.”
She said, “Are you setting a trap for me? You
know King Saul will kill anyone who does that.”
He said, “Listen to me carefully. As sure as
God lives, you’ll not suffer for doing this.”
She said, “Who do you want me to bring up
from the dead?”
“Bring back Samuel. I want to talk to him.”
Suddenly the woman saw Samuel. She
screamed and then she turned and yelled at the
king. “You tricked me! You’re King Saul!”
He said, “Don’t worry about that. Now tell me,
what do you see?”
“I see a spirit coming up from the ground.”
“What does he look like?”
“It’s an old man wearing a robe.”
Saul knew it was Samuel so he fell down with
his face to the ground. The prophet said, “Why
are you disturbing me? What do you want?”
“Oh, I’m in trouble and I don’t know what to
do. God won’t talk to me, and the Philistines
have invaded the land with a massive army. So I
called on you. Please tell me what to do.”
Samuel said, “The Lord is now your enemy, so
why do you think I’d help you? I’ve already told
you what he was going to do. Well, he’s finally
doing it. He’s ripping the kingship out of your
hands and giving it to your neighbor David. You
didn’t obey God. You refused to do what he told
you to do. Therefore, tomorrow you and your
sons will join me. Israel will be handed over to
the Philistines.”
Saul was terrified when he heard this and
stayed on the ground. He was weak because his
hadn’t eaten anything for over a day. The woman
said, “I’ll make some food. You need to regain
your strength before you leave.”
At first the king refused, but his servants
agreed with the woman. Finally he got up and
sat on the bed while she prepared the meal. She
killed a fatted calf, cooked it, and baked some
bread. Saul and his servants ate the meal, and
then left into the night.
© God Child