1 Samuel 28:3-20
Kings
have a way of staying battle. Year after year, there's someone to
fight, someone to conquer or be conquered by. In this case, it's the
Philistines. This time up, Saul sees the Philistine troops and is scared
to death.
He prays but hears nothing. He can't find the answer he's looking for in dreams, signs, or prophets. He's got nowhere to turn. Evidently, he's killed off all the mediums in the country my means of genocide.
He gathers his officials and asks them where he can find somebody to find direction from. His officials tell him about a witch in Erdon. The author lets us know that the witch is a woman, of course. Since Saul has killed off all the witches, he goes undercover by the dark of night to seek out this woman. When he shows up, he asks her to conjure up the spirit whose name he gives. She says, "Don't you know that Saul killed off all the mediums in the country? Are you trying to get me killed?"
Saul says, "Don't worry. You've got nothing to fear."
The woman says, "Ok. Who do you need to talk to?"
"Samuel," Saul says.
The woman does her magic and taps into the spirit of Samuel. As this is happening, the woman evidently sees Samuel. As she begins communicating with Samuel, she realizes that the man sitting across from her isn't some random person - but it's Saul. She cries, "You lied to me! You're Saul!"
Saul brushes off the accusation as if he hasn't just murdered every witch in the country and says, "What do you see?"
The woman sees an old man ascending from the underground, dressed in a priestly robe. Then, she starts interpreting for the spirit of Samuel and translating it to Saul. Saul tells the woman to ask Samuel, "The Philistines are ready to take over Israel. What do I do? God has deserted me and I
don't know what to do?"
This is what the woman says on behalf of Samuel: "Because you disobeyed God in not killing every man, woman, child, ox, and sheep in Amalek, God has turned away from you and has joined the side of your neighbor. He has done exactly what he said he would do - ripped the kingdom out of your hands and given it to your neighbor. Israel will be handed over, along with you, your sons, and your army, to the Philistines tomorrow. You and your sons will join me down here."
Saul falls to his knees in terror. He goes into shock when he hears the information from the medium.
Saul should have killed every man, woman, child, ox, and sheep in Amalek. Never mind that he took it upon himself to mass murder every witch in the country, but he left some people alive in Amalek. Something's not right here.
Did God really want Saul to kill every living thing in Amalek? Or, was this the grand idea of a prophet? Would God actually send someone to commit genocide, then punish them for not carrying the genocide out to a tee? The author sure thinks so.
Does God actually commission out hit men to murder masses of people? Yes, if you take the author's account without a grain of salt. Remember, we're reading about a world in which everything was attributed to the gods. War, peace, rain, drought, everything. It made perfect sense to the author to kill off the witches because they were against the thinking of the author. But, it made perfect sense to punish Saul for not carrying out God's instructions to the tee, by not murdering off those bad people. Redemption cannot be seen yet. No matter who it is in the story, everyone's account of God is screwed up.
The lens through which the author writes through is a lens of favoritism and wickedness. Some are chosen and some are not. But, that was the thinking of the time. You were either against God or not. If you were against God, you died at the hands of anointed kings. Redemption to the author looked like Israel remaining at the top of the food chain, not the bottom. Forget everyone who wasn't Israel because they were all wicked God-haters.
Kings
have a way of staying battle. Year after year, there's someone to
fight, someone to conquer or be conquered by. In this case, it's the
Philistines. This time up, Saul sees the Philistine troops and is scared
to death.He prays but hears nothing. He can't find the answer he's looking for in dreams, signs, or prophets. He's got nowhere to turn. Evidently, he's killed off all the mediums in the country my means of genocide.
He gathers his officials and asks them where he can find somebody to find direction from. His officials tell him about a witch in Erdon. The author lets us know that the witch is a woman, of course. Since Saul has killed off all the witches, he goes undercover by the dark of night to seek out this woman. When he shows up, he asks her to conjure up the spirit whose name he gives. She says, "Don't you know that Saul killed off all the mediums in the country? Are you trying to get me killed?"
Saul says, "Don't worry. You've got nothing to fear."
The woman says, "Ok. Who do you need to talk to?"
"Samuel," Saul says.
The woman does her magic and taps into the spirit of Samuel. As this is happening, the woman evidently sees Samuel. As she begins communicating with Samuel, she realizes that the man sitting across from her isn't some random person - but it's Saul. She cries, "You lied to me! You're Saul!"
Saul brushes off the accusation as if he hasn't just murdered every witch in the country and says, "What do you see?"
The woman sees an old man ascending from the underground, dressed in a priestly robe. Then, she starts interpreting for the spirit of Samuel and translating it to Saul. Saul tells the woman to ask Samuel, "The Philistines are ready to take over Israel. What do I do? God has deserted me and I
This is what the woman says on behalf of Samuel: "Because you disobeyed God in not killing every man, woman, child, ox, and sheep in Amalek, God has turned away from you and has joined the side of your neighbor. He has done exactly what he said he would do - ripped the kingdom out of your hands and given it to your neighbor. Israel will be handed over, along with you, your sons, and your army, to the Philistines tomorrow. You and your sons will join me down here."
Saul falls to his knees in terror. He goes into shock when he hears the information from the medium.
Saul should have killed every man, woman, child, ox, and sheep in Amalek. Never mind that he took it upon himself to mass murder every witch in the country, but he left some people alive in Amalek. Something's not right here.
Did God really want Saul to kill every living thing in Amalek? Or, was this the grand idea of a prophet? Would God actually send someone to commit genocide, then punish them for not carrying the genocide out to a tee? The author sure thinks so.
Does God actually commission out hit men to murder masses of people? Yes, if you take the author's account without a grain of salt. Remember, we're reading about a world in which everything was attributed to the gods. War, peace, rain, drought, everything. It made perfect sense to the author to kill off the witches because they were against the thinking of the author. But, it made perfect sense to punish Saul for not carrying out God's instructions to the tee, by not murdering off those bad people. Redemption cannot be seen yet. No matter who it is in the story, everyone's account of God is screwed up.
The lens through which the author writes through is a lens of favoritism and wickedness. Some are chosen and some are not. But, that was the thinking of the time. You were either against God or not. If you were against God, you died at the hands of anointed kings. Redemption to the author looked like Israel remaining at the top of the food chain, not the bottom. Forget everyone who wasn't Israel because they were all wicked God-haters.
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