Due to his sin, Saul is all alone and frightened of his enemies. David will not help him; God will not help him; he’s in a living death. So in desperation Saul does the only thing he can think of and tries to contact Samuel. But Samuel is dead! Nonetheless, Saul hunts down one of the mediums he’s banished from the land to call up the prophet. But when a man rises from the ground both he and the medium are stunned. God warns us against contacting the dead. We are playing with things we don’t understand and seeking knowledge which isn’t for us. That can only end badly. We must concentrate upon our relationships with the living.
Brief notes on this passage are also sent out in daily emails during the week after the sermon. An archive of these may be read on a separate website: press here to go to the first one from this passage or press here to read the introduction to the notes, which are entitled “Think of the King“.
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