Saul assured the woman's safety by making an oath to her in the name of the Lord. Feeling safe to proceed, she asked who he wanted to speak to from the spirit world. He answered, "Bring up Samuel." This is where we pick up the narrative today.
The woman at Endor is probably a fraud like most mediums, psychics, and fortunetellers. A major clue in favor of her being a fraud is that when she makes a big show of calling to the spirit world and trying to channel Samuel, she is terrified when someone actually does appear to her. The shock she experiences at this turn of events indicates that this is quite unexpected. I don't believe she's ever before seen a genuine manifestation of any dead person she's ever called upon. "When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, 'Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!'" (1 Samuel 28:12)
If she suspected before that she's in the presence of the king, she knows it for certain now. But how does she know it? Does the person who appears to her tell her this? Does seeing Samuel convince her that the man in her house is the king because no one from the other side ever showed up for any of her less prestigious guests? Whether or not we believe the person (or entity) she sees is really Samuel, I don't think she's faking seeing someone or something. She's too surprised and afraid for us to make the case that she sees nothing, plus the message she will relay to Saul is too compelling to explain away as a trick. It will contain information she could not have known.
Again Saul reassures her that this is not a sting operation to catch mediums plying their trade and that her life is not in danger. She accepts his reassurance and continues on with the session. "The king said to her, 'Don't be afraid. What do you see?' The woman said, 'I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth.'" (1 Samuel 28:13) It's important to note that Saul sees no one. He's relying entirely on what the woman says she sees. This is part of the reason many scholars reject the theory that Samuel appears to her. This woman is in the habit of telling her customers that she sees "a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth" and there's nothing remarkable about her saying that. I don't feel, however, that we can dismiss the possibility that the medium really does see a figure. I also don't feel we can dismiss the possibility that the figure she sees is Samuel. "'What does he look like?' he asked. 'An old man wearing a robe is coming up,' she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground." (1 Samuel 28:14)
Saul told the medium he wanted Samuel brought up and even if the medium is faking she would have described Samuel the way she describes him. She may never have seen Samuel in person but his fame was widespread. Everyone knew he was a prophet and this means he would have worn the long and distinctive robe of a prophet, which usually included a fur mantle. The woman at Endor does not need to be a medium to accurately describe a garment Samuel would have worn. In addition, she doesn't have to be a medium to describe him as old. Everyone knew he was an old man when he died. The Bible doesn't tell us his age at death but a number of years before he died he was described to us as "old" in 1 Samuel 8:1. It's generally estimated that he was between the age of ninety and one hundred and ten at his death. So there's nothing about the medium's description of the "ghostly figure" that proves she had a genuine sighting of the prophet's spirit. I don't think people in the afterlife remain at the age they were at death, such as Samuel still being an old man. But Saul would not have recognized him as a young man or without his prophet's attire. If Samuel really did appear, he would have appeared in a form that made sense to Saul.
We want to keep in mind that while people who believe in ghosts have attempted to use this passage to prove the existence of ghosts and hauntings, it should not be used as proof of any such things. This is not a haunting. Samuel is not a ghost. He is not a disembodied spirit lingering on the earth after death. When Samuel died he went to meet his Maker where he will reside eternally in His presence. If indeed Samuel really visits the medium and passes along a genuine message to the king, his appearance is like the visit of Moses and Elijah in the New Testament. Peter, James, and John saw Moses and Elijah on the mountain with Jesus, speaking to Him about His approaching death. (See Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9.) Neither the authors of these three New Testament books nor the men who witnessed this event treated the appearance of Moses and Elijah as something ghostly and supernatural and ethereal; the Scriptures seem quite clear that Moses and Elijah literally made a visit to Jesus on the mountain in the presence of the disciples Peter, James, and John. Though these two men had died centuries earlier and had been in the presence of the Lord ever since, yet in bodily form they brought a message to Jesus. They were not ghosts. And neither is Samuel.
In a moment the text seems to indicate that Samuel and Saul are speaking directly to each other but these questions and answers may have been relayed back and forth by the medium. If that's how it went, it would still be accurate for the author to depict these scene as a conversation between only the two men. We know Saul doesn't see the prophet Samuel but we can't say for sure whether or not he hears his voice. I tend to think not, as this is not typically how a session with a medium would go. The person seeking to speak with the dead would present their questions to the medium, then the medium would make a big production of acting as if she is passing the questions along to the spirit world, then she would pretend to receive an answer from the spirit world and relay that answer to her customer.
"Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?'" (1 Samuel 28:15a) Samuel's question begs another question: can an occult practitioner compel a departed soul to attend a meeting? I truly cannot imagine that being the case. Samuel's words could be taken to mean he's been brought up against his will but I honestly don't believe a child of God could be called up against their will. I don't believe a child of God could be called up at all, not by a medium or by anyone else, because once this life is over the soul moves on to its next destination and I don't believe there is any Scriptural basis for believing departed souls can come and go from this earth except on the occasions when it is the will of God for them to do so. The incident involving Moses and Elijah is one of those occasions. The incident involving Samuel---if it really is Samuel---would be another of those occasions. I think when he asks, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?", he's not saying he's meeting with Saul against his will. I think he's just asking, "What do you want? What question could possibly be important enough to interrupt my eternal and joyful worship of the Master?"
It's my opinion that 99.9% of so-called hauntings have natural explanations or are the result of fanciful, overactive imaginations. In the .1% where something out of the ordinary actually is going on, I believe it is demonic in nature. That is why no one should attempt to contact the spirit world: whatever answers is not who it appears to be. It may have a human form and it may claim to be a human being, but the Lord Jesus warned us that Satan is the father of lies and that lying is his nature. (John 8:44) Also we are told by the Apostle Paul that Satan (and probably the other fallen angels too) masquerades at times as a faithful angel. (1 Corinthians 11:14) If these wicked spiritual beings can pretend to be the Lord's angels, how much easier is it for them to masquerade as the spirits of departed loved ones? On this basis some scholars assert that the appearance of Samuel in Chapter 28 is a demonic charade. I can see why they're tempted to draw this conclusion. At the same time I still find myself leaning toward the theory that the Lord, knowing Saul isn't in the habit of listening to Him, sends Samuel to Saul because Saul is more likely to heed the words of his old friend than anyone else.
"'I am in great distress,' Saul said. 'The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.'" (1 Samuel 28:15b) Saul isn't the first man of the Bible to ask God for battle strategy and he won't be the last. But God has kept silent with Saul because silence has a way of getting people's attention. If Saul will allow God to get his attention and if he will focus his whole heart on the Lord, he would see the error of his ways, repent, and be changed. But Saul isn't interested in any of that. He doesn't consider his poor spiritual condition to be a problem. He does, however, consider the Philistines to be a problem and that's the only problem he wants solved right now.
Samuel doesn't provide Saul with battle strategy any more than the Lord does. Instead he addresses Saul's rebellious nature and predicts a soon-coming end to Saul's life. "Samuel said, 'Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done what He predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors---to David. Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out His fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.'" (1 Samuel 28:16-19) Samuel says something like, "Why do you ask for my opinion now, when you wouldn't listen to it while I was alive? You never took my words to heart when I was with you. If you had, things might have turned out differently for you."
The remainder of the message contains information the medium would not have been in possession of. It alludes to private conversations between Saul and Samuel in which Samuel warned him the kingdom would pass from his family line to someone else's. It makes reference to the day Saul grabbed Samuel's robe and accidentally tore a piece of it off; in response Samuel turned back to him and told him the kingdom was about to be torn away from him. In our passage today Samuel uses that same terminology. The medium also wasn't on the scene when Samuel anointed David to be the next king of Israel, yet Samuel's message makes the statement that the throne will go soon to David. Because this message contains things the woman did not see and hear, my opinion is that Samuel really did make an appearance in this very rare way---allowed and orchestrated by God---to deliver a message to Saul from God. The Lord knew Saul like no one else knew him and was aware that getting Saul's attention would take something extremely extraordinary.
Whatever our personal feelings may be about whether or not Samuel actually showed up, his words are going to come true. Saul knows in his heart that they're going to come true, which is why in tomorrow's passage he falls to the ground, faint with fear. Yet we still don't find him calling out to the Lord.
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