King Saul Consults With A Medium At Endor Series

In first Samuel 28 we see that David and his 600 men are hiding out in the land of the Philistines. King Saul has stopped looking for David, because he’s left the country, but now, things are changing.

The Philistines are again gathering for war to invade Israel.

Now the only mention we get of David in 1st Samuel 28 is in the first two verses, it says this: “In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.”

2 David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”

Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.””

David has agreed to fight for the Philistines against Israel. But the rest of the chapter, we’re going to follow King Saul, caught up in a great deal of fear, trying to understand what he should do next.

It says in 1st Samuel 28:3-6, “Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.”

King Saul wasn’t just afraid at the sight of this massive enemy army on the horizon, he was terrorized by this, terror filled his heart. So he inquires of the Lord, how would he do that? He asked the prophets, they don’t have anything to tell him. He asks the Lord for a dream, no dream came. He even attempts this practice of Urim.

Urim is a mystery of the old testament, but it was apparently part of the vest of the high priest, they would wear this multicolored vest with all sorts of different gems and rare stones on it, and along with this elaborate vest, they would have something called urim. It may have been dice that were thrown down, or sticks with different letters or marks on them, no one is sure today. But apparently when a major decision had to be made, like going to war, or taking a census, or something big, this method could be used. But only if God hadn’t made it clear, they would use the urim to discover God’s will. Fascinating, because even in the New Testament, it says the disciples cast lots, threw dice of a sort, to discover which disciple should take the place of Judas who had betrayed Jesus. So decision making in tough cases apparently can be adjudicated through the casting of lots.

In any case, there is no word from God. So, what do they do?

It says in verses 7-8: Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”

“There is one in Endor,” they said.

So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”

It’s fascinating that Saul looks for a medium in Endor, because Endor is in the area of land allotted to the tribe of Issachar, and Issachar was known as a tribe to be able to foretell prophetically, from God, the future (1 Chronicles 12:32).

But instead of seeking the Lord, because God refuses to answer Saul, he seeks out the other side, demonically influenced witchcraft.

When you look at the topic of receiving a word, or foretelling the future, or being guided on decisions, there are two sides to it.

One, is consulting with demonic powers. People want to play with supernatural forces, it’s fun, it seems mysterious, so they go to a fortune teller, or practice wicca, astrology, witchcraft, receive a tarot card reading, play with a ouiji board, or they attempt a séance.

Many times it’s simply fake. There’s nothing there. But many times, it will actually be accurate because, it’s demonically influenced, influenced by demons.

That is considered a great sin by God, if we access those sort of influences. But many times people will say, well it’s very accurate! That's why they do it. And yes it may be, but you’re receiving information from a demon, which is an offense to the Lord.

The other way, is the way God wants us to take: to seek God through prayer. Or to fast and pray and seek a word from Him. Or to receive a word from a prophet, or through someone’s spiritual gifting, many Christians have the gift of a word of knowledge, or a gift of wisdom, or a gift of discernment, and we can receive wisdom, guidance and good counsel from such fellow believers if we’ll seek them out. We can also find guidance in God’s word. Or God may speak to us in a dream or vision, rarely of course, if we ask Him.