1 Samuel 28:14

And he said unto her, what form [is] he of?.... Of what stature is he? or rather of what age does he seem to be? and what clothes has he on?

And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

He is covered with a mantle; the usual habit of prophets, ,13 Zec 13:4, and particularly of Samuel, . Saul perceived that it was Samuel; the woman pretended, and Saul upon her suggestion believed, that it was Samuel indeed; and so many popish and some other writers conceived. But that it was not Samuel, but the devil representing Samuel, is sufficiently evident. For, first, It is most incredible that God, who had just now refused to answer Saul by the means which himself appointed and used in that case, would answer him, or suffer Samuel to answer him, in that way, and upon the use of those means which God detested and contemned; which would have given great countenance and encouragement to Saul and the witch, and all professors and consulters of those devilish arts. Secondly, There are divers passages in this relation which plainly discover that this was no good, but an evil spirit; as first, That he receives that worship from Saul, , which good spirits would not suffer, 22:8,9. Secondly, That amongst his other sins for which he condemneth him, he omitteth this of asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; for which transgression, with others, he is expressly said to have died, , which the true Samuel, who was so zealous for God’ s honour, and so faithful a reprover, would never have neglected, especially now, when he takes Saul in the very fact. Thirdly, That he pretends himself to be disquieted and brought up, , by Saul’ s instigation, and the witch’ s art; which is most false, and impious, and absurd to imagine, concerning those blessed souls who are returned to their God, , and entered into peace and rest, , and lodged in Abraham’ s bosom, , and rest from their labors, . The only argument of any colour to the contrary is only this, that the devil could not so particularly and punctually discover Saul’ s future events as this Samuel doth, . But this also hath little weight in it; it being confessed and notoriously known, that evil spirits, both in the oracles of the heathen, and otherwise, have oft-times foretold future contingencies; God being pleased to reveal such things to them, and to permit them to be the instruments of revealing them to men, for the trial of some, and for the terror and punishment of others. Besides, the devil might foresee this by strong conjectures, as by the numerousness, strength, courage, and resoluteness of the Philistine host, and the quite contrary condition of the Israelites, and by divers other symptoms far above the reach of mortal men, but such as he by his great sagacity could easily discern. And for that express determination of the time, tomorrow, , that word may be understood not of the very next day, but indefinitely of some short time after this, as it is taken, ,21.

1 Samuel 28:14 And he said unto her, What form [is] he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he [is] covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it [was] Samuel, and he stooped with [his] face to the ground, and bowed himself.Ver. 14. What form is he of?] Heb., What is his form? for as yet Saul saw him not; though soon after he both saw him, and heard him preaching his funeral sermon. And he is covered with a mantle.] The clothes of a prophet, wherein also Samuel was buried, saith Lyra: but that is doubtful. Many great Papists hold it a gay business to be buried in a Franciscan or Dominican habit: and some at point of death have given great sums for licence to be buried in a cardinal’ s purple robe. And he stooped with his face to the ground.] This was what the devil chiefly aimed at: and it is well observed that everyone that consulteth with Satan worshippeth him, though he bow not. Neither doth that evil spirit desire any other reverence than to be sought unto.

(14) An old man Cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle.—The “mantle;” Heb., m’il. The garment so named was not a peculiar one, and bore no official signification; still, its mention here in this place would seem as though the woman recognised the well-known m’il which the prophet used to wear in life. But it has been asked, How could a spirit bear the semblance of an old man? and further, How could such a being be clothed? Rabbi Moses Maimonides of Cordova (twelfth century), surnamed the “Eagle of the Doctors,” in his Yad Hachazakah, admirably replies to these queries when discussing certain similar expressions used with regard to the Holy One, who is a Spirit without a body or a frame. “We find,” says Maimonides, “such expressions as ‘under His feet,’ written with the finger of God,’ ‘the eye of the Lord,’ &c. Of Him one prophet says, ‘That he saw the Holy One—blessed be He !—whose garment was white as snow’ (Daniel 7:9); whilst another saw Him ‘like a warrior engaged in battle.’ Compare the saying of the sages in the Yad Joseph on Exodus 15:3 :—’On the sea He was seen like a man-of-war, and upon Sinai like a reader of prayers, wrapped (in a surplice); and all this though he had neither similitude or form, but that these things were in an apparition of prophecy, and in a vision.’”—Yad Hachazakah, bk. I., ch. 1 “God designed,” says Bishop Wordsworth, “that the spirit of Samuel should be recognised by human eyes; and how could this have been done but by means of such objects as are visible to human sense? Our Lord speaks of the tongue of the disembodied spirit of Dives in order to give us an idea of his sufferings; and at the Transfiguration He presented the form of Moses in such a garb to the three disciples as might enable them to recognise him as Moses.” And he stooped . . . and bowed himself.—It Seems probable that at this juncture the king saw the form before him when he did obeisance. It is, however, not clear, from the language here used, whether this strange act of reverent homage did not at once follow the description of the woman.

Verse 14. An old man cometh up, and he is covered with a mantle.] This seems to have been a second apparition; she cannot mean that she had seen gods ascending out of the earth, and these gods were like an old man with a mantle. The angelic appearance first mentioned prepared the way for Samuel; and the whole was done so as to show to the woman that her art had not prevailed in the present instance, and that what was now taking place was wholly independent of her incantations. Saul perceived that it was Samuel] The description was suitable to his person and clothing.

14. An old man cometh up] The Sept. has “a man coming up upright,” a reading which is possibly due to the strange Rabbinic fable that the witch knew her visitor to be Saul because Samuel came up erect to do honour to the king, instead of appearing feet foremost as ghosts evoked usually did! a mantle] The prophet’s garb. Cp. 1 Samuel 15:27. Saul perceived] Lit. knew. Saul recognised from the description that it was Samuel, and shewed his reverence for the great prophet by the usual gesture. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:8. At first Samuel was seen by the witch only, but Saul’s obeisance, and the conversation carried on between them, seem to indicate that he afterwards became visible to Saul also.

14. What form is he of — He uses the singular, ϊΰψε, his form, though the witch had spoken in the plural of gods.