One of the Bible’s strangest stories is about King Saul and the Witch of Endor and the condemnation Saul received for consulting a medium.
In First Samuel 28:1-25, Saul sees the huge Philistine army encamped against him and God does not respond to his entreaties because he had failed to destroy the idolatrous Amalekites.
The Revs. Don Caywood and James Archie say Saul’s pride caused him to lose his kingdom and be replaced by David.
“Saul went to God and asked for help and when God didn’t answer, he went to the Witch of Endor, disguising himself because he had earlier given the edict that no one should work with familiar spirits,” said the Rev. Caywood, senior pastor of Odessa Christian Faith Center. “So she asked him, ‘Who do you want to call up?’
“And he said, ‘The Prophet Samuel.’ A familiar spirit is a demonic representation of someone. There is no way that God would allow a witch to call up a godly prophet of God.”
Scholars say Saul reigned over Israel for 20 years in the late 11th Century B.C. and that Endor was a village on the south edge of the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel.
Caywood said a familiar spirit of Samuel expressed severe disgruntlement at having been disturbed and said Saul and his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua would all die in the next day’s battle. “So Satan was working through the Witch of Endor and Saul as well,” he said.
“If Saul had just repented, God would have probably turned things around for him. But he would not repent. When people have success, they can become too proud to repent.
“First John 2:16 says the three major categories of sin are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and Proverbs 16:18 says pride goes before destruction.
“Lesson No. 1 from this is that the devil is real and he will do everything he can to lie and deceive people into thinking that he is God,” Caywood said. “Always seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness and you will be safe.”
The Rev. Archie, pastor of Freedom Missionary Baptist Church, said Saul “was at loose ends because he saw the army of the Philistines and God wouldn’t say anything.
“He was in dire straits,” Archie said. “He didn’t know what was going to happen or what to do and at this point he went against the laws of Leviticus that said not to be associated with soothsayers or mediums. He was going against his own rules because he had banished all the witches and soothsayers and wizards from the kingdom.
“Instead of going in his royal robes and letting the witch know he was the king, he disguised himself to go and speak with her. She was still worried that something would happen to her even though he swore, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.’ But they did have a séance and Samuel arrived.
“Then Saul bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.”
Archie said the lesson to be drawn “is that we are servants of God and we need to do exactly what God tells us to do because if we don’t listen and adhere to the Word of God, we can end up like Saul.
“He had been told to kill all the Amalekites, even their livestock, and he went against the word of God,” he said. “If God tells us to do something, we still need to do it even if we think it’s wrong.
“The next day, Saul and his sons all died in battle and David was crowned king. It was a situation where God not only took him out but took out his whole family line.”
