Verse 19
19. The Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me To take these words as a revelation from Samuel involves the evangelical interpreter in the dilemma expressed by Charles Wesley:
What do these solemn words portend?
A ray of hope when life shall end.
“Thou and thy sons, though slain, shall be
To-morrow in repose with me.”
Not in a state of hellish pain,
If Saul with Samuel do remain;
Not in a state of dark despair,
If loving Jonathan be there.
But if Saul, Samuel, and the “loving Jonathan” find after death the same abode, what matters it that “Saul died for his transgressions,” and especially for the crime of inquiring of a necromancer? See 1 Chronicles 10:13. Universalism may then well comfort the incorrigible sinner, and assure him of immediate “repose” after death with the saints in light!! Such theology may do for the witch of Endor, but not for the holy Samuel. Beholding Saul’s despair and terror, the witch knew that the Philistines had every probability of victory in the approaching battle, and that warriors like Saul and his sons would not be likely to survive defeat. We have, therefore, no evidence of a supernatural communication here. It ought to be noted that there is no evidence outside of this verse that the disastrous battle of Mount Gilboa was fought and Saul slain on the morrow after this interview with the witch. Here she herself, perhaps, made a blunder, for very possibly several days elapsed before the fatal battle in which Saul and his sons were slain.
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