1S28-7: Saul’s Hypocrisy – Consulting the Dead While Claiming to Serve God

“Then Sha’ul said to his servants, ‘Try to find a woman who tells the future by communicating with the dead; I want to go and consult with her.’ His servants answered him, ‘Yes, there’s a woman in ‘Ein-Dor who tells the future by communicating with the dead.'”-1 Samuel 28:7

So Saul ordered his cabinet to go and find a woman spiritist who specialized in contacting the dead. 

The Hebrew for such a person is BA’ALATH OB or בעלה אוב.

Notice that BA’AL is the root word in this term.

The phrase means “Mistress of the Ghost” or “Ghost Wife.”

Saul’s advisors told him there was a reputable BA’ALATH OB in En Dor.

This was a village located a little over 5 miles northeast of Shunem, where the Philistines had set up camp.

Apparently, this woman was one of the diviners who had agreed to stop her practice so she could stay in Israel.

Now here’s an interesting truth bomb we shouldn’t overlook.

Unless we’re told otherwise, all of the diviners and necromancers mentioned in the Bible’s historical books were all Hebrews.

That’s right.

There were a ton of necromancers operating in Israel not to mention their customers.

The land was awash in idolatry at this time.

Onward.

So in an act that was the height of hypocrisy, Saul donned a disguise and went to this Ba’alath Ob (Ghost Wife) in Ein-Dor.

He asked her…

“Tell me the future, please.

Bring up from the dead the person I name to you.” 

When Saul asked the woman to “bring up” the dead, that’s exactly what he meant.

It was believed the dead resided in some underworld located beneath the earth.

If you wanted to speak with them, you had no choice but to bring them up against their wills.

Saul visited this necromancer at night because the black magic rituals took place after dark.

Now the woman was immediately suspicious.

She told the disguised Saul the king had recently outlawed such activities and that if she got caught she would surely be put to death.

Saul responded by saying…

“As Adonai lives, you will not be punished for doing this.”

Now isn’t this the funniest thing you’ve ever heard?

Saul is promising the woman in the Lord’s name that she would not be harmed for doing something that’s a capital offense per the Torah.

Boy, the hypocrisy is so thick you could choke on it.

Saul was so deluded he really thought he was gonna be able to communicate with Samuel through divination and that God would be cool with that.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing isn’t rare..even among believers.

And that’s your takeaway for today.

Lemme ask you this.

As a believer, have you ever dabbled in the occult?

I’m talking about things like tarot cards, horoscopes, palm readings, and/or psychic readings.

Or have you ever tried to communicate with spirits using Ouija boards?

Or tried to pray to disembodied beings, false gods, or other spirit beings?

If you’ve ever been involved with such activities, I sure hope you’ve repented of them.

Or if you’re involved with such activities now, I beg you to repent and stop such nonsense IMMEDIATELY.

As I said yesterday, these are all portals to where demons reside.

You could be in danger of being taken over by an evil spirit.

So stay away.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“Once when we were going
to the place of prayer,
we were met by a female slave
who had a spirit by which she
predicted the future.
She earned a great deal of money
for her owners by fortune-telling.
She followed Paul and
the rest of us, shouting,
“These men are servants of
the Most High God, who are
telling you the way to be saved.”
She kept this up for many days.
Finally Paul became so annoyed
that he turned around and
said to the spirit, ‘In the name of
Messiah Yeshua I command you
to come out of her!’ At that
moment the spirit left her.”
–Acts 16:16-18