1 Samuel 28:15 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me— Houbigant observes very justly, that Samuel complains not of the woman, but of Saul, for disquieting him; whence it appears clear, that Samuel was not raised up by her magic arts, but by the will of God. Samuel's disquiet plainly arose from Saul's hardened impenitence in the way of religion. It was this that grieved and provoked him; and so it should be translated: Why hast thou provoked me, to make me rise up?—Why dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee? But is it probable, say some, that God, who had refused to answer Saul by all the accustomed methods, would, to satisfy him, raise up Samuel to apprize him of his destiny? We answer, I. That Saul had not consulted God by Urim, or by prophets; for the Urim was with David; and there was probably no prophet then alive, to whom God communicated himself either by vision, or by his prophet; and that in the methods which he had employed, he had conducted himself hypocritically, and without any right impression of religion. II. We answer, that Saul, in danger, and anxious about the event of it, applies to a Pythoness, to assist him by her incantations, and to call up the spirit of Samuel; but before she articulates one word of her spells or charms, the prophet interposes, frightens her, and pronounces Saul's doom; and she herself witnesses the truth of his appearance. God is not so tied down to his own institutions, that he cannot at any time depart from them. That God should manifest himself by his prophets, to encourage or countenance what he himself had forbidden, is indeed very unlikely, or, to speak more justly, very absurd to suppose. But that he should interpose to reprove that practice, is perfectly compatible with all our ideas of his perfections.