1 Samuel 28:20

SAUL'S VISIT TO THE WITCH OF ENDOR WAS CONCLUDED

"Then Saul fell at once full length upon the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, "Behold, your handmaid has hearkened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also hearken to your handmaid; let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." He refused, and said, "I will not eat." But his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he hearkened to their words. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it, and she put it before Saul and his servants; and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night."

"So he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed" (1 Samuel 28:23). "The bed" in the ancient houses of that era was a wide bench against the wall, used as a sitting place in the daytime and for sleeping at night.

"She had a fatted calf in the house" (1 Samuel 28:24). This is merely the archaic way of saying that she had such an animal readily available.

The solicitude of the witch for Saul's welfare was understandable. No normal human being could look upon the terrified and distressed king with any other than emotions of pity and compassion. Her hospitality was also a matter of insurance on her part against the possibility that, if Saul survived, he might put her to death as he had done to most of her contemporary practitioners of necromancy.