Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
As battle approaches, Saul inquires of God about its outcome; but when He does not answer, he consults the Witch of Endor, who raises Samuel, who, in verse 16, predicts destruction and slaughter for Saul and his camp.
Vulgate Text: 1 Kings 28:1-25
1. And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies to prepare for war against Israel; and Achish said to David: Know now assuredly that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men. 2. And David said to Achish: Now you shall know what your servant will do. And Achish said to David: And I will make you the guardian of my person for all days. 3. Now Samuel had died, and all Israel mourned for him, and they buried him in Ramah, his city. And Saul had removed the magicians and soothsayers from the land. 4. And the Philistines gathered and came and encamped at Shunem: and Saul also gathered all Israel and came to Gilboa. 5. And Saul saw the camp of the Philistines and was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6. And he consulted the Lord, and He did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. 7. And Saul said to his servants: Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, and I will go to her and inquire through her. And his servants said to him: There is a woman with a familiar spirit in Endor. 8. So he changed his appearance; and clothed in other garments, he went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. 9. And the woman said to him: Behold, you know what Saul has done, and how he has destroyed the magicians and soothsayers from the land; why then do you lay a snare for my life? 10. And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying: As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come to you for this matter. 11. And the woman said: Whom shall I bring up for you? He said: Bring up Samuel for me. 12. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice and said to Saul: Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. 13. And the woman said to Saul: I saw gods ascending from the earth. 14. And he said to her: What is his form? She said: An old man is coming up, and he is clothed with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground. 15. And Samuel said to Saul: Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul said: I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines fight against me, and God has departed from me. 16. And Samuel said: Why do you ask me, when the Lord has departed from you? 17. For the Lord will do to you as He spoke by my hand, and He will tear the kingdom from your hand and give it to your neighbor David. 18. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor carry out the fierceness of His wrath against Amalek. 19. And the Lord will also give Israel with you into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. 20. And immediately Saul fell stretched out on the ground; for he feared the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him. 21. And the woman came in to Saul, and said: Behold, your handmaid has obeyed your voice; now listen also to the voice of your handmaid, and I will set a morsel of bread before you. 22. But he refused. His servants and the woman urged him, and at last he rose and sat upon the bed. 24. Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hastened and killed it; and she took flour and baked unleavened bread, 25. and she set it before Saul and his servants. And when they had eaten, they rose and walked throughout that whole night.
Verse 2: David's Ambiguous Reply
2. NOW YOU SHALL KNOW WHAT YOUR SERVANT WILL DO. -- David here speaks ambiguously, lest he offend King Achish and put himself in danger of death. For he did not intend to truly fight with Achish against his own Israelites; for it would have been impious to wage war against his own fatherland and the people of God: nor did he wish to avenge himself on Saul; hence when Saul was slain, he greatly grieved over his death. So says Abulensis.
Verse 3: Saul Removed the Magicians
3. AND SAUL REMOVED THE MAGICIANS -- because God had commanded it, Leviticus 19 and 20. Saul did this at the beginning of his reign, says Abulensis. But why did Saul, who removed diviners, then consult one himself? Justin Martyr explains: "He removed the diviners because he hoped that by this act he would so appease God that He would revoke His sentence depriving him of the kingdom: not because he hated the wickedness of the diviners, but because he loved the kingdom."
Verse 6: God Does Not Answer
6. AND HE DID NOT ANSWER HIM, NEITHER BY DREAMS, NOR BY PRIESTS. -- In Hebrew, "nor by Urim," that is, through the high priest wearing the Breastplate in which were the Urim. God did not wish to answer Saul because of his disobedience and impiety, by which he had killed the priests and was persecuting David. Therefore Saul, seeing himself spurned by God, fled to the Python, that is, to the devil, according to that saying of the godless: "If I cannot bend the gods above, I will move the underworld."
Verse 7: The Witch of Endor
7. AND SAUL SAID TO HIS SERVANTS: SEEK ME A WOMAN WHO HAS A FAMILIAR SPIRIT -- that is, a familiar demon, which the Septuagint calls engastrimython, that is, a ventriloquist, who would speak from the woman's belly as if from a wineskin (for this is what the Hebrew ob means). Hence Apollo was called Pythian, because he gave oracles, and his ministers were called Pythii and Pythonissae. Hence "Python" signifies any kind of divination, whether done through necromancy and raising of the dead, as was done here through the raising of Samuel, or through sorcery, or through incantations.
Verse 11: Was It the True Samuel?
11. BRING UP SAMUEL FOR ME. -- You may ask, was it the true Samuel whom the Witch of Endor raised? Many deny it, and think it was a demon or phantom. So say Procopius, Theodoret, Rupert, Tertullian, Cyril, Bede, and others. More truly, other more numerous and more authoritative scholars affirm it, because the text clearly indicates it, and more clearly Ecclesiasticus 46:23, where among the praises of Samuel it assigns this, that he prophesied after death: "He raised his voice from the earth in prophecy, to cause sins to cease." This is the opinion of Abulensis, Lyranus, Cajetan, St. Augustine, Basil, Nazianzen, Josephus, Justin Martyr, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Suarez, and Bellarmine.
Verse 12: The Woman Sees Samuel
12. AND WHEN THE WOMAN SAW SAMUEL. -- God preempted the incantations of the Witch of Endor, which tend to be lengthy, lest Samuel appear to have been raised by their force: therefore immediately at Saul's request He presented Samuel. For this reason the troubled woman "cried out." She cried out in alarm because she saw that Samuel had preempted her incantations and presented himself before being called: for his venerable and majestic appearance struck her.
Verse 13: Gods Ascending
13. I SAW GODS ASCENDING FROM THE EARTH. -- "Gods," that is, "God." For in Hebrew it is Elohim, meaning a divine man, namely Samuel: for she saw only him, as is clear from what follows.
Verse 15: Why Have You Disturbed Me?
15. WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED ME TO BE RAISED UP? -- That is, why were you the occasion for my being raised? For the proper and efficient cause of Samuel's raising was God. Moreover, Samuel said he was disturbed by Saul, because he was moved and angered by the unworthiness of the manner in which Saul was attempting to raise him through sorcery.
Verse 19: Tomorrow You and Your Sons
19. TOMORROW YOU AND YOUR SONS WILL BE WITH ME -- in the next world, namely in the underworld, but not in the same part and place of the underworld, as if to say: You and your sons will die and be added to the dead, and will be with me in the place and state of the dead, but with different lots and dwelling places: for I am in limbo, you will descend to hell. "For wicked Saul did not deserve to be received where good Jonathan was," says Bede.
Verse 21: The Woman's Hospitality
21. AND THE WOMAN CAME IN. -- Abulensis plausibly judges that the Witch of Endor was not present while Saul spoke with Samuel, because Saul wanted to deal with him in secret. When Samuel departed and his conversation with Saul was finished, the woman entered.
AND I HAVE PUT MY LIFE IN MY HAND -- that is, I exposed myself to the danger of death, as a sorceress by raising Samuel: for I knew that Saul had killed all magicians.