1 Samuel 28:3–7 (ESV) — 3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for
him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the
necromancers out of the land. 4 The Philistines assembled and
came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at
Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was
afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul
inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by
Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a
woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his
servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”
NOTE: The key is
verse 3, the last Judge of Israel has died. The leadership of the nation has
passed on to the kings, although in a very short time, Saul will die as well.
Saul, though rejected by God, leaned on Samuel. The problem is that Saul never
leaned on God. Saul even did religious things, like banishing the occult from
the land, but in the end, Saul was a hypocrite. What he told other people not
to do and punished other people for doing, he now does himself--he seeks out a
medium. One could reply that he sought God and God did not answer. But the
problem with that argument is that Saul never sought God except in crisis. Saul
saw God as serving him, that he could call on him as he called on any servant
to do his wishes. Saul did not realize that he was supposed to serve God, not
the other way around. He never made a habit of seeking God, so why should he
expect an answer from God now, just because Saul summoned God. So, instead he
summons Samuel (or something else) from the dead to speak. Saul was foolish,
but the foolishness wasn't born of the moment. It was a foolishness developed
through years of neglect of the one true relationship he needed, a relationship
with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment