to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
spake
דִּבֶּ֣רdi.Ber
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
me
בְּיָדִ֑יbe.ya.Di
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
LORD
יְהוָ֤הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
rent
וַיִּקְרַ֨עvai.yik.Ra'
H7167
to rend · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
kingdom
הַמַּמְלָכָה֙ha.mam.la.Khah
H4467
dominion · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
hand
מִיָּדֶ֔ךָmi.ya.De.kha
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
given
וַֽיִּתְּנָ֖הּvai.yi.te.Nah
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
neighbour
לְרֵעֲךָ֥le.re.'a.Kha
H7453
an associate (more or less close) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
David
לְדָוִֽדle.da.Vid
H1732
David · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 15:27-29 And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.
1 Samuel 24:20 And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
1 Samuel 13:13-14 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now…
1 Samuel 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day fo…
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 28:15-19
We have here the conference between Saul and Satan. Saul came in disguise (Sa1 28:8), but Satan soon discovered him, Sa1 28:12. Satan comes in disguise, in the disguise of Samuel's mantle, and Saul cannot discover him. Such is the disadvantage we labour under, in wrestling with the rulers of the darkness of this world, that they know us, while we are ignorant of their wiles and devices.
I. The spectre, or apparition, personating Samuel, asks why he is sent for (Sa1 28:15): Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? To us this discovers that it was an evil spirit that personated Samuel; for (as bishop Patrick observes) it is not in the power of witches to disturb the rest of good men and to…
bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee--This pythoness united to the arts of divination a claim to be a necromancer (Deu 18:11); and it was her supposed power in calling back the dead of which Saul was desirous to avail himself. Though she at first refused to listen to his request, she accepted his pledge that no risk would be incurred by her compliance. It is probable that his extraordinary stature, the deference paid him by his attendants, the easy distance of his camp from En-dor, and the proposal to call up the great prophet and first magistrate in Israel (a proposal which no private individual would venture to make), had awakened her suspicions as to the true character and rank of…
The Lord hath done to him - I believe these words are spoken of Saul; and as they are spoken to him, it seems evident that him should be thee. The Vulgate has tibi, the Septuagint σοι, to Thee: and this is the reading of five of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., as well as of both the Bibles printed at Venice in 1518, where we read לך lecha, to Thee, instead of לו lo, to Him.
As he spake by me - Here was no illusion; none but Samuel could say this.
John Gill
The Church Fathers
Also, some can be sent to the living from the dead, just as in the opposite direction divine Scripture testifies that Paul was snatched from the living into paradise. Samuel the prophet, although dead, predicted future events to King Saul, who was alive, although some think that it was not Samuel himself who was able to be called forth by some magic, but that some spirit so allied with evil works had feigned a likeness to him—yet the book of Ecclesiasticus, which Jesus the son of Sirach is said to have written, but because of some similarity of style is thought to be the work of Solomon, contains in praise of the fathers the fact that Samuel prophesied even though dead. If there is objection to this book on the ground that it is not in the canon of ancient Hebrew Scripture, what are we going to say of Moses, who in Deuteronomy is certainly recorded as dead and again in the Gospel of Matthew is reported to have appeared to the living along with Elijah who did not die.
But the argument is still under examination. And I say that both the narrative and the examination concerning it are necessary, so that we may see what awaits us after our departure. "He has spoken by my hand, and the Lord will rend the kingdom from your hand and give it to your neighbor, to David." But a demon cannot know the kingdom of David that was appointed by the Lord. "Because you did not hearken to the voice of the Lord, you did not execute the anger of his wrath upon Amalek." Are these not the words of God? Are they not true? For truly Saul did not do the will of the Lord, but "preserved the king of Amalek alive," for which also, before his death and at his departure, Samuel reproached Saul: "And on account of this word the Lord has done this to you on this day; and the Lord will give Israel also into the hand of the foreigners." Can a demon prophesy about the whole people of God — that the Lord is about to hand over Israel? "The Lord will also hand over the camp of Israel into the hand of the foreigners. But hasten, Saul: tomorrow both you and your sons shall be with me." And can a demon know this — concerning a king anointed together with a prophet — that tomorrow Saul was about to depart from life, and his sons with him? "Tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Divination — Of false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are…
Magic — The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.) for oracular answers (Judg. 18:5, 6; Zech. 10:2). There is a remarkable illustration of this divining by teraphim in Ezek. 21:19-22. We read…
Witchcraft — (1 Sam. 15:23; 2 Kings 9:22; 2 Chr. 33:6; Micah 5:12; Nahum 3:4; Gal. 5:20). In the popular sense of the word no mention is made either of witches or of witchcraft in Scripture. The “witch of En-dor”…
En-Dor · The witch of, consulted by Saul — The witch of, consulted by Saul
Familiar Spirits · .Saul — .Saul
Necromancy · .The witch of En-dor — .The witch of En-dor
Witchcraft · The Witch of Endor — The Witch of Endor
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on 1 Samuel 28:17
And the Lord hath done to him,.... To David, Saul's enemy, as he insinuated he was:
as he spake by me; pretending to be the true Samuel, and wearing the guise of him, he speaks his very words, which he was well acquainted with, and could deliver exactly as he did:
for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour; which words are expressed by Samuel, 1 Samuel 15:28,
even unto David; which is added by the apparition, by way of explanation, interpreting the words of David; which he might safely venture to do, seeing such a train of circumstances had occurred since the delivery of these words, which plainly made it appear he was intended.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 28:3–end
Saul with the witch at Endor. - The invasion of Israel by the Philistines, which brought David into so difficult a situation, drove king Saul to despair, so that in utter helplessness he had recourse to ungodly means of inquiring into the future, which he himself had formerly prohibited, and to his horror had to hear the sentence of his own death. This account is introduced with the remark in Sa1 28:3 that Samuel was dead and had been buried at Ramah (cf. Sa1 25:1; וּבעירו, with an explanatory vav, and indeed in his own city), and that Saul had expelled "those that had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land" (on the terms employed, oboth and yiddonim, see at Lev 19:31). He had done…
To your fellow, to Dovid. But during his lifetime, he [Shmuel] did not mention his name [Dovid] to him, only 'and He gave it to your fellow who is better than you'23Above 15:28. because he feared that he [Shaul], might kill him,24Now however, that Shmuel was in the עוֹלָם הָאֶמֶת [=World of Truth] there was nothing to fear speaking the complete truth. because he had anointed him [Dovid] as king.
