Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Samuel
Chapter 28: The LORD Answered Him Not
On the eve of battle, terrified and abandoned, Saul enquires of the LORD and hears only silence, no dream, no Urim, no prophet. So the king who had banished the mediums creeps by night to the witch of Endor, and there God permits the dead Samuel to pronounce the doom Saul has earned: 'to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.'
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Samuel chapter 28. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 28 records the tragic last night of King Saul, the silence of God, the forbidden seance, and the sentence of doom. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
The LORD Answered Him Not (1 Samuel 28:1-6)
Facing the Philistine host, Saul is gripped by terror and seeks the LORD, but heaven is silent to the man who has silenced heaven.
Neither by Dreams, Nor by Urim, Nor by Prophets
"And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men. And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets."
Word Study
"the LORD answered him not," Hebrew lo anahu YHWH (לֹא עָנָהוּ יְהוָה). The most terrible words in the chapter are these: "the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." God had appointed three channels by which He made His will known, and Saul finds every one shut against him. This is not that God had suddenly grown deaf, but that Saul had spent years refusing the word he already had. He silenced God by long disobedience, and now, in his extremity, God is silent to him. It is the sowing and the reaping of Proverbs: "Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD" (Proverbs 1:28-29). The silence of God is one of His severest judgments. Saul wanted an answer, but not the God who gives it; he sought guidance, but not repentance. There is a seeking that comes too late, when the heart has hardened past hearing.
Explanation
The Philistines muster for a decisive war, and Achish presumes David will fight at his side, a dreadful corner into which David's exile has driven him. The scene then shifts to Saul. The writer reminds us that Samuel is dead and that Saul himself had once, rightly, expelled the mediums and wizards from the land, obeying God's law against them. Now the two armies face off at Shunem and Gilboa, and Saul, seeing the enemy's strength, is overcome with fear, "his heart greatly trembled." In his terror he does what he had long neglected: he enquires of the LORD. But the heavens are shut. No dream, no answer from the Urim of the priest, no word from any prophet. The God whose word Saul had spurned for years now withholds His word entirely. It is a picture of a soul that has run out of the day of grace.
Gospel Focus
The silence of God toward Saul is a solemn gospel warning. God is not mocked; a lifetime of refusing His voice can end in not hearing it at all. Yet we must read this rightly: the silence fell not because Saul sought God too earnestly but because he had rejected Him too long, and even now sought an answer without seeking the LORD Himself in repentance. "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6), the very words imply there is a while, a season, and it can pass. This is not to terrify the true seeker, for "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37); no penitent who truly turns is ever refused. But it is to warn the trifler who presumes on endless tomorrows. Do not treat God's patience as though it had no end. The day to hear His voice is today: "To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15).
Saul Seeks the Medium at Endor (1 Samuel 28:7-14)
Rather than repent, Saul turns to the very witchcraft he had outlawed, and God permits Samuel to appear.
Bring Me Up Samuel
"Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself."
Word Study
"a familiar spirit," Hebrew ob (אוֹב), "a medium, one who consults the dead, a necromancer." A woman "that hath a familiar spirit" (ob) is a spiritist, a medium who claims to summon the dead. The law of God had utterly forbidden such things, naming "a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer" and declaring that "all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD" (Deuteronomy 18:11-12); "Regard not them that have familiar spirits" (Leviticus 19:31). Saul knew this, he had enforced it himself. His turning to Endor is not a lapse but a plunge, a deliberate crossing of a line God had drawn in blood. And note the telling detail: when Samuel actually appears, the medium "cried with a loud voice", she is terrified, for this was plainly not the trick she was used to producing. God Himself, sovereignly, sent the real Samuel, not to reward her sorcery but to pronounce Saul's doom. It was God's act, not the witch's power.
Explanation
Denied an answer from God, Saul does not humble himself; he seeks a forbidden one. He asks for a medium and is told of the woman at Endor. Disguising himself and coming by night, he begs her to conjure the spirit he will name. The woman, fearing a trap (for Saul had banned her trade on pain of death), is reassured by Saul's oath, ironically sworn "by the LORD" whom he is at that moment defying. He names Samuel. Then something happens that the medium did not expect and could not control: she sees Samuel and screams, realizing at once that her visitor is Saul. This detail is the key to the passage. Whatever she normally did in her trade, this was different, real, and beyond her, for God overruled to send the true prophet. Two things in the text confirm it was truly Samuel and no deception: the narrator plainly calls the figure "Samuel" (vv. 12, 15-16), not an apparition or a spirit; and the doom he pronounces -- that Saul and his sons would die on the morrow -- came to pass exactly (chapter 31), the mark of a true word of God, which no familiar spirit could give. She describes an old man wrapped in a mantle, and Saul, recognizing Samuel, bows to the ground.
Gospel Focus
Saul's road to Endor charts the downward logic of unbelief. When God went silent, Saul's problem was never a lack of information but a heart that would not repent; and rather than turn back to God, he turned to the occult. This is the awful pattern of the hardened heart: shut out of the light, it seeks the darkness. The believer must beware every counterfeit source of guidance, horoscope, seance, divination, "spirituality" that bypasses the living God, for these are not neutral but "an abomination unto the LORD," a snare that promises knowledge and delivers ruin. God has spoken finally and fully in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2) and in His written word; we need no voice from the dead. Indeed the Lord Jesus taught that those who will not hear Scripture "neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31). When you crave direction, do not creep to Endor; go to the Word and to the God who answers the humble. The occult never leads home.
To Morrow Shalt Thou Be With Me (1 Samuel 28:15-25)
Samuel pronounces the fall of the kingdom and Saul's death on the morrow, and the broken king collapses.
The LORD Is Departed From Thee
"And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; 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, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: 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. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me. Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou mayest have strength, when thou goest on thy way. But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed. And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof: And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night."
Word Study
"is become thine enemy," Hebrew ar (עָר), from a root meaning "adversary, foe." Samuel's verdict is crushing: "the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy." The God who had anointed Saul and made him king now stands against him, not by any arbitrariness but as the just consequence of Saul's own rebellion, "because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD." Here is the sobering truth that God, who is the friend of the humble, becomes the adversary of the persistently defiant: "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6). Samuel confirms that the kingdom is torn away and given to David, and pronounces the final sentence: "to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me." Saul will die, and Jonathan with him, within a day. It is the reaping of a life sown in disobedience, "be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). The word once spoken by Samuel in life (chapter 15) is now sealed by Samuel from beyond death.
Explanation
Samuel's message holds no comfort. He asks why Saul has disturbed him, and Saul pours out his desperation, God has abandoned him and will not answer, so he has come, forbiddenly, to Samuel. But the prophet only confirms the doom: the LORD has departed and become Saul's enemy, has rent the kingdom and given it to David, exactly as foretold, all "because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD" in the matter of Amalek. Then comes the final blow: tomorrow Israel will fall to the Philistines, and Saul and his sons will be dead, "with me" among the dead. Saul collapses full-length on the ground, drained of strength and hope, having eaten nothing. The medium and his servants urge him to eat, and at last he does, rising to share a last meal before going out into the night, and to his death on the morrow. It is one of the most desolate scenes in all Scripture: a king with no God, no hope, and no tomorrow.
Gospel Focus
The end of Saul is the tragedy of a life that would not obey. He had gifts, a crown, opportunities, and warnings without number, yet he hardened his heart, and now the harvest comes in. Scripture itself gives the epitaph: "Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD," and "also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it," for he "enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse" (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). The contrast with David could not be sharper: David sinned yet returned and repented and enquired of the LORD; Saul sinned and hardened and turned to Endor. The difference between the two men was never sinlessness but the direction of the heart, one broke toward God, the other away. Let Saul's dark last night drive us to the Saviour while it is called today. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" is a law no crown can escape; but grace waits for all who will yet turn and enquire of the LORD in truth.
Chapter 28 in Review
1 Samuel 28 records the desolate last night of King Saul. As the Philistines muster for battle, Saul is seized with terror and enquires of the LORD, only to meet total silence, "neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." The heavens are shut to the man who spent his reign refusing God's word. Rather than repent, Saul creeps by night to the very medium he had once outlawed, and there God sovereignly permits the true Samuel to appear, terrifying the witch who had no power to summon him. Samuel only confirms the doom: the LORD has departed and become Saul's enemy, the kingdom is David's, and tomorrow Saul and his sons will die. The king collapses, then rises to eat a last meal and go out to his end.
For the Apostolic reader, the chapter is a sustained warning. The silence of God is among His severest judgments upon a heart that has long refused Him; the day of grace is real and can pass, so "to day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Saul's plunge into the occult charts the downward road of unbelief, which, shut out of the light, seeks the darkness. And his doom, sealed by his own disobedience, sets in relief the mercy shown to David, whose difference was never sinlessness but a heart that turned back to God.
- "The LORD answered him not", the silence of God is a severe judgment on a heart that long refused His voice.
- Saul sought an answer without seeking God in repentance; there is a seeking that comes too late.
- Turning to the occult is "an abomination unto the LORD"; the hardened heart seeks darkness, never home.
- Saul's doom was the harvest of disobedience; David's mercy shows the difference is the heart's direction.
Questions for Reflection
- Are there warnings from God you have long refused? Do not presume the door will always be open.
- When God seems silent, do you seek Him in repentance, or seek mere answers by other means?
- What made David and Saul so different? Which direction is your heart turning today?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The silence of God as judgment; the day of grace: 1 Samuel 28:1-6; Proverbs 1:28-29; Isaiah 55:6; John 6:37; Hebrews 3:15.
- The forbidden medium at Endor; the occult an abomination; God's final word in Christ: 1 Samuel 28:7-14; Deuteronomy 18:11-12; Leviticus 19:31; Hebrews 1:1-2; Luke 16:31.
- Samuel's sentence of doom; sowing and reaping; Saul's epitaph: 1 Samuel 28:15-25; James 4:6; Galatians 6:7; 1 Chronicles 10:13-14.