Verse 3
3. Samuel was dead This fact had been already recorded, (1 Samuel 25:1,) but is repeated here for the purpose of introducing the narrative that follows.
Saul had put away Of this act of Saul’s reign we have no record elsewhere, but it was probably done soon after he received the kingdom, and by the advice of Samuel. It was required by the law. Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27.
Familiar spirits The primary sense of the Hebrew word אוב is a skin bottle. Compare Job 32:19. Furst defines the word as “the hollow belly of conjurers, in which the conjuring spirit resides, and speaks hollow, as if out of the earth.” Persons of this craft were supposed to possess a divinity or spirit within them by which they were enabled to hold intercourse with the realm of the dead. The Septuagint renders the word by εγγαστριμυθος , a ventriloquist; in reference, probably, to the manner in which some of these conjurers uttered their responses.
Wizards See on Deuteronomy 18:10-12.
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