1 Samuel 28:3

Samuel was dead. A repetition of 1 Samuel 25:1 , inserted to explain Saul's conduct, as is the other fact, that Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, etc. We are not told when Saul did this; but at the commencement of his reign, when he brought the ark to Nob, he was probably earnest generally in his observance of the precepts of the Mosaic law. Familiar spirits. Hebrew, oboth, the plural of ob , a leathern bottle. It is generally taken to refer to the distended belly of the conjurer, into which the summoned spirit of the dead was supposed to enter, and thence speak; for which reason the Septuagint renders the word" ventriloquist," and is followed by most modern commentators. Wizards . Hebrew, "knowing ones," from the verb to know ; just as wizard comes from the old verb to wiss. With ignorant people unusual knowledge is always looked upon with suspicion; but these supposed magicians professed a knowledge to which they bad no claim.