1 Samuel 28 part 12 Magicians, Mediums and the like
Tonight we are going to be examining a very difficult chapter where Saul consults a medium. In fact one commentator I looked at stated that he thought that this was the most difficult chapter out of the entire Bible. Well before we look at the chapter itself I think it always important that we see the rest of the Bible has to say about mediums and their abilities to help us understand more of what is going in chapter 28.
It seems to me that the mediums, sorcerers, magicians and the like seem to have their beginning in the Egyptian culture. The first time we see the mentioned in the Bible was when Joseph was in prison and the Pharaoh was having a dream that he wanted to know what it meant.
Genesis 41:8 Now it came to pass in the morning
that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of
Now as we look at the passages I want you to
notice the continual pattern that we will see. First of we you will notice that
there were people practicing these divination arts. Second thing I want you to
observe is that these people were always limited on what they could pull off.
Third I want you to notice that when God was involved with one of his people
that they could do what the others could not which shows that their supposed
ability was just a ruse. In this verse we see that none of these magicians or
wise men could interpret the Pharaohs dream and this made the Pharaoh very
angry but then he finds about this man name Joseph who may be able to tell him
what his dream means.
Genesis 41:15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I
have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have
heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret
it." 16 So Joseph
answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh
an answer of peace."
Notice Joseph didn’t say that he had the ability
in himself to interpret the Kings dream but that it was only through God that
he could do such a thing. Again, we see a stark contrast between Joseph and the
magicians because Joseph gives the credit to God for his ability while these
others give themselves the credit for supposed ability.
Our next example comes from the book of Exodus
when Moses started performing miracles in the form of plagues so that the
Pharaoh would let the children of
Exodus 7:10 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh,
and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before
Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11 But Pharaoh also called the
wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of
Now in this instance we
see that magicians were able to through there rods down and make them turn into
snakes as well. Again, this is trick that magicians can pull of today by using
trickery but the rod that Aaron threw down wasn’t done by mere trickery it
actually happened and to show that it wasn’t just a mere trick the God’s
serpent ate the other serpents showing that God power was real and greater than
any tricks these magicians could come up with.
Now many of the plagues
that Moses brought forth by the power of God the magicians were able to explain
away by showing the Pharaoh how they could pull off the same trick. However, I
personally believe that when they were doing their rendition of what Moses did
that they did it on very small scale simply using slight of hand or other man
made techniques. Now even these magicians could not reproduce some of the
things that God was doing for real and they even admitted they could not.
Exodus 8:18 Now the
magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could
not. So there were lice on man and beast.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the
finger of God."
You
see they were very limited on what they could do and they could not even begin
to touch the power of God. Now let’s look at a couple of NT examples.
Acts 8:9 But
there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the
city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone
great, 10 to whom they all
gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great
power of God." 11 And
they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long
time. 12 But when they
believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then Simon himself also
believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed,
seeing the miracles and signs which were done.
Here we learn about how
Philip was go to
Mark 16:20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying
signs.
Now we also learn about
this man named Simon who had astonished the people for a long time with his bag
of tricks and they thought he was something else, that is until they saw what
real miracles were about through the hands Philip. Even Simon himself, knowing
that his tricks were fake was truly amazed at the miracles and signs that
Philip had done. Simon gave up his bag of tricks and became a Christian.
Our next example comes
from one of Paul’s adventures as recorded in, Acts 19
Acts 19:11 Now God
worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,
12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his
body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of
them. 13 Then some of the
itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord
Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the
Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14
Also there were seven sons of Sceva, (see-vuh) a Jewish chief priest, who
did so. 15 And the evil
spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are
you?" 16 Then the man in
whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed
against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all
Jews and Greeks dwelling in
Notice the credit is
given to God for working unusually miracles through Paul. It was already
amazing enough with the miracles and the signs that were being done but to see
unusually miracles happening must have been something else. Now in contrast
these 7 sons of see-vuh thought they could simply chant or invoke the name of
Jesus and they to would be able to work a sign such as casting a demon out but
they find our real quick that it takes more than invoking the name of Jesus as
they are beaten up and stripped of there cloths having to run from that house naked for all to see. We need to
keep in mind that the city of Ephesus was full of people who believed in other
God’s and the arts of magic and so when the people heard this story it caused
many in that city turn away from their so called magic and they had a great
book burning today and the value of what they destroyed with be the equivalent
of $35,000 dollars today.
Now this is just 2
examples from the OT and 2 examples from the NT. More examples could be given but
I think you can see from these examples that these magicians and the like were
fakes and very limited on what they actually do. Now I want you to write down
this next verse because it really teaches us that these magicians and the like
are indeed just fakes.
Zechariah 10:2 For the
idols speak delusion; The diviners envision lies, And tell false dreams; They
comfort in vain.
Jeremiah 14:14 And the
LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent
them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision,
divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.
Ezekiel 13:6
"They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, 'Thus says
the LORD!' But the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be
confirmed. 7 "Have you
not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken false divination? You say,
'The LORD says,' but I have not spoken."
8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have
spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,"
says the Lord GOD.
I believe this passages
show that those who are magicians and the like are nothing more than
tricksters, people who tell lies about what they see and they do their best to
deceive those around them. Now I will say this any of these people actually
performed any real magic their power would have only come from the devil
himself. We can certainly see that he had limited power based on what God
allowed him to do such as in the story of Job. For instance he was able to send
fire down on his animals and he made a strong wind blow the house down that his
children were in. Also the NT says this,
2 Thessalonians 2:9
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all
power, signs, and lying wonders, 10
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish
We
also learn that during the NT time when demon possession was allowed to happen that one lady is said
to of had the ability to foretell the future that found in acts 16:16. But again
even if and when someone did signs by the power of the devil it was still a
limited power that could not come close to power of God.
Another thing we need to
do compare how God’s people used objects to get an answer from God and how the
magicians and the like used objects to practice their sorcery.
First lets look a few
examples of what Gods people used.
Our first example comes
from Judges chapter 6 where Gideon used a fleece to get an answer from God.
Judges 6:36 So Gideon
said to God, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said -- 37 "look, I shall put a
fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and
it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my
hand, as You have said." 38
And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece
together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 Then Gideon said to God,
"Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I
pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but
on all the ground let there be dew."
40 And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only,
but there was dew on all the ground.
Not
only was this done it was done twice and we see a definite answer here and
miracle because God controlled what the dew did.
Another
example was the use of casting lots.
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every
decision is from the LORD.
The casting of lots were
used to decided whether someone guilty or innocent and but the way the lot fell
was controlled by God. This same method was used to determine who next apostle
would be.
Acts 1:24 And
they prayed and said, "You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which
of these two You have chosen 25
"to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by
transgression fell, that he might go to his own place." 26 And they cast their lots, and
the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Now the magicians used a
variety of things to pull off their tricks.
Hosea 4:12 My
people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs
them.
Ezekiel 21:21 "For
the king of
Sometimes they would
use a stick or a staff and drop it and which ever side was up would give a
person there yes or no answer. Sometimes they would shake an arrow to find the
answer or even cut open an animal and look at it liver for sign. Of course
another thing they supposedly did was to talk to the dead. Again there are more
examples I could give but this is good enough to show that there were some
similarities between these two by the fact that objects like these were used
for real answer from God while they were also used as a part of the magicians
bag of tricks.
God makes it very
clear for us that magicians, mediums and the like were to avoided or killed in
the OT time.
Deuteronomy 18:10
"There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his
daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a
soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 "or one who conjures spells,
or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 "For all who do these
things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the
LORD your God drives them out from before you.
Leviticus 20:27
' A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely
be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon
them.' "
Now
I want to look at what the Bible has to say about being able to speak to the
dead to see if it is logically possible.
Well
first of all I want to point the fact
the only God has power over the soul.
Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill
the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
Every instance that you
read of someone who has died and then they came back to life because their soul
reentered there body it always by the power of God by which that happens. No
human has that power.
Ecclesiastes 8:8 No man has power to retain the
spirit, or power over the day of death.
The Bible never mentions the devil having this power either.
Once we die our soul
goes to a place called Hades as I talked about a couple of weeks ago. Now
according to the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 it
wasn’t possible for rich man or Lazarus to cross the gulf that was between them
and we also learned that no one was going to be sent back from the dead. Now
think about this if it was not possible for them to leave the place they were
at then what makes us think that someone on this earth could have the ability
summon them up from this place or to speak to them. This story alone to me
shows that it is not logically possible for mediums to be able to speak to the
dead or bring them forth and also do not believe that that devil had the power
to do this either.
Revelation 1:18 "I am He who lives, and was
dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades
and of Death.
Not only did Jesus have
the keys of hades and death at this time I believe that God has always had the
keys to hades and death which means that God is the one in control and not even
the devil would have the power take a soul from this area. I have few more
passages that I believe show that once a person dies they do not know aware of
what is happening on the earth right now. So when someone says that they think
Grandma is looking down on them I do not believe this to be true.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will
die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of
them is forgotten. 6 Also
their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they
have a share In anything done under the sun.
Now this passage is
not teaching that we will know nothing in the sense that we are is some unaware
state because our story of the rich man and Lazarus makes it clear that we are
fully conscience after we die. Instead it is saying that when we die we will not be aware of what
is currently going on in this earth. That is why the last part of verse 6 says
that we will never have a share in anything done under the sun. Once we die we
cannot receive any more rewards for what we do on the earth because were dead.
So, I believe this passage coupled with the story of the rich man and Lazarus
shows that no man or devil could speak with or conger up those who have passed
away.
Ok now that we have
a good foundation built on what the Bibles teaches as a whole on magicians,
mediums and the like we can now take a look 1 Sam 28.
1 Samuel 28:3 Now
Samuel had died, and all
Now I going to tell
you that this certainly is a difficult text and I wish that there were more
details about this encounter with Saul and this medium. But based upon the
background study that we did about mediums and the like I do not believe that
this lady had the power to really talk to the dead and that she just a fake. I
think our first evidence comes from.
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she
cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why
have you deceived me? For you are Saul!"
First of all we see that
she saw something for real this time. Another thing this is implied here is
that when Samuel came forth he let her know that this was Saul that standing
there because it wasn’t until this moment that she knew that it was Saul. We also
see that she cried out showing to me that she was surprised about what was
going on at this time. Then you will notice that only the medium seems to be
able to Samuel but starting in verse 15 it appears the Samuel begins to talk
directly to Saul and tells him that he is going to die along with his sons
tomorrow. So now here is the question by what power is Samuel speaking to Saul
at this time. We have already ruled out the medium having this power so now I
want to offer 3 possibilities that I found by commentators and then I will tell
which one I think fits the text best.
1. Some seem to think
that this whole encounter is nothing but a lie from the witch. In other words
she is just putting on a good acting job and she knew all along that Saul was
with her. I don’t really like this explanation because there just to much going
on in the text and to much information that the medium would have to know to
pull this trick off.
2. Some have suggested
that the devil simply transformed himself into looking like and sounding like
Samuel to mess with Saul even more. Now I would say that might possible for the
devil to transform himself this way but I again I do not like this explanation
because I can’t see any reason why the devil would do this for.
3. Now the third
explanation is the one that I like the best because it makes the most sense to
me. I believe that God allowed Samuel to speak to Saul one last time to show
Saul that even if you try to get an answer from the dead that it is not going to
change the fact that Gods spirit had left him and that his kingdom was going to
be taken from him. This makes the most sense to me because I know that God has
the power to do this because he allowed Moses and Elijah to appear with Jesus
in front of Peter, James and John and we have seen God get his point across to
people in many different ways and so I believe this is the best explanation.
This witch was shocked to see this happing for real and God allowed it happen.
Of course this makes Saul
very scared and he didn’t want to eat. Well, after a bit of coaxing he does
finally eat and he and his men leave that place.