📖WEB · 1 Samuel 28:13
What does 1 Samuel 28:13 mean?
"The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”"
— 1 Samuel 28:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”
Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?” He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.”
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”
The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?” The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”
He said to her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.
Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”
Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has departed from you and has become your adversary?
Explanation
This verse comes from one of the most unsettling episodes in the Old Testament: King Saul's visit to the medium at Endor. By this point in the narrative, Saul is desperate. The Philistine army is massed against Israel, Samuel the prophet has died, and God has stopped answering Saul through dreams, the Urim, or prophets. In his fear, Saul disguises himself and seeks out a woman who practices necromancy—ironic, since Saul himself had earlier banned mediums and spiritists from the land in obedience to the Law. He asks her to summon Samuel from the dead. When something appears, the woman cries out in alarm, and Saul, sensing her fear, urges her not to be afraid and asks what she sees. Her reply, "I see a god coming up out of the earth," is her description of the apparition.
The book was likely composed and compiled by later prophetic historians drawing on earlier records, part of the larger narrative history of Israel's monarchy meant to explain why Saul's kingship failed and why David's succeeded. This chapter functions as a turning point, showing Saul's complete spiritual unraveling. Having lost access to God's guidance because of his own disobedience, he turns to the very practice God had forbidden, revealing the depth of his desperation and the tragic consequences of a life increasingly cut off from the Lord.
The word translated "god" here (Hebrew elohim) doesn't necessarily mean a
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