Half Dead Saul

1 Samuel 28:11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

Mediums are often scammers. They claim contact with the dead but are in fact professional charlatans, duping those who seek to contact the dead. They get information from the inquirers and then use that information to convince them that they are speaking with a loved one.

We have no indication from the text that what this woman has done is a trick. She seems to claim to be able to talk to anyone from the dead. We do not know if she really could do this. But she does seem to make real contact with a spirit. The indication in the text that this is so is when she sees the spirit, she gains knowledge that the one inquiring of her is Saul. The spirit must have told her this.

Saul never sent to consult Samuel while Samuel was living. And near the end of Samuel’s life, he was afraid of Saul, that Saul would seek to kill him. But now Saul seeks Samuel among the dead for words to the living. The proverb, “Let the dead bury the dead comes to mind.” Saul is half dead already and seeks words of wisdom from the dead.