Saul Consulted a Medium
By Ps Alby Yip
1 Samuel 28 records one of the strangest and most unsettling episodes in the Bible. Fearing the Philistine army and the upcoming battle, Saul sought guidance from God. But God did not answer him (28:6). Instead, Saul turned to a medium and asked her to bring up the spirit of Samuel. Was it really Samuel who appeared? There are three main views.
1. It was genuinely Samuel. God permitted Samuel to appear and deliver His message of judgment to Saul. The message was certainly consistent with what Samuel had previously told Saul. Hence, it was God who sovereignly intervened even through Saul’s sinful attempt to seek supernatural guidance apart from God.
2. It was a deceptive spirit. The figure was not Samuel but an evil spirit impersonating him. Scripture consistently warns God’s people against mediums and attempts to communicate with the dead (Deut. 18:10–12). Indeed, Saul himself outlawed spiritists earlier (1 Sam. 28:3, 9). In going to a medium, Saul had himself “opened the door” for spiritual deception.
3. It was the medium’s trickery or occult power. It was the medium who produced some kind of apparition or deceptive experience, whether through deceit, psychological means, or occult practice. Some even suggested that the medium, who already knew it was Saul, played along out of fear or favour.
There is another concern for Christians. Why did Samuel appear, even “coming up out of the earth” (v. 13)? Shouldn’t Samuel already be in his heavenly home, as we so often hear at wakes and funerals?
We should remember that the role of prophets, whether Samuel or others, was to proclaim the word and will of God. God uses different means and forms to disclose His word and will: angels, visions, incidents, coincidences, and even a donkey (Num. 22). Above all, God sent His Son from heaven to earth.
God used even the enemies of God’s people—Assyria, Babylon, and Pilate—to fulfil His will. Perhaps the focus in these accounts was not on the “messenger” but on the message. Saul had stopped listening to God! God will remain silent when His voice is repeatedly ignored. God will step aside when a person insists on going his or her own way.
1 Samuel 28, then, is a challenge: when God speaks, will we obey His voice or follow our own desire-driven voice? When God seems silent, will we follow other “voices” that promise instant gain and pleasure? Saul’s tragedy was not that he consulted a medium. He had already chosen a path of disobedience and wanted guidance only on his own terms.
