Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Samuel chapter 28 verses 3 through 12:
3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had expelled the mediums and the wizards from the land. 4The Philistines assembled, and came and encamped at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, not by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7Then Saul said to his servants, ‘Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.’ His servants said to him, ‘There is a medium at Endor.’
8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said, ‘Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to you.’ 9The woman said to him, ‘Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?’ 10But Saul swore to her by the Lord, ‘As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.’ 11Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered, ‘Bring up Samuel for me.’12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, ‘Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!’
Saul feels the kingdom slipping from his hands. It is a time of great anxiety, which for Saul then slips into desperation. He will do anything to hold onto the seat of his power. He is even willing to break his own laws. And so in a moment of desperation, Saul visits the witch of Endor and asks her — no forces her — to conjure up the old priest Samuel from death’s slumber. The abuse of power is complete.
Samuel is conjured; but what is he reveals dismays. Saul is revealed; he is found out. And the end of his kingdom is sealed. He shudders in fear.
Power and the will to power can delude us into all manner of actions, deceptions, and evils. The desire to hold onto the throne or whatever its equivalent is can bring us to a place of deep, deep betrayal. As the old saying goes, “Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
But as for Saul, our own deceptions are always revealed. As is said in the Bible “[our] sins will find [us] out.
In the end, Saul loses the throne. The witch of Endor is powerless to help. For she conjures the dead, but then it is revealed that the LORD is God of both the living and the dead. And so in the end there is revelation and also judgment.
Let us with ears to hear also understand.
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