Then said Saul—Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit— Utterly forsaken of God, yet anxiously desirous of searching into futurity, Saul, who had prayed to God to no purpose, now resolved to apply himself to Samuel. To what will not fear and folly force us? In the days of his devotion, Saul had partly cut off, and partly frighted away, those wizards and sorcerers, those execrable wretches, the pests of society and enemies of true religion, whom God commanded to be extirpated. See Leviticus 20:27. Deuteronomy 18:10. However, some of them, he concluded, might have remained or returned. He enquired, and was informed [princes never want ministers of mischief] of a Pythoness, who dwelt not far off, at En-dor, a little village of the tribe of Manasseh, in the valley of Jezreel, at the foot of mount Gilboa. He accordingly hasted that very night to En-dor, stripped off his regal apparel, disguising himself as well as he could, and attended only by two companions. When he arrived, he prayed the woman to divine by her familiar spirit, that is, to employ her art, in evoking from the dead the person whom he should name; at the same time assuring her, by a solemn oath, that no evil should happen to her, on account of what she mentions in the 9th verse. The woman then demands whom he would have raised: he answers, Samuel. The woman, no doubt, was then about to proceed to her charms and incantations. But, contrary to all her expectation, the moment Saul had mentioned the name of Samuel, the woman saw an appearance, and in great terror cried out to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. Our translators have inserted the particle when in the 12th verse, which embarrasses the sense, and implies, that some space of time had passed between Saul's request, and the appearance of Samuel: whereas the original text stands thus, When Saul said, bring me up Saumel, then immediately follows, and the woman saw Samuel, and cried, &c. She saw an apparition that she did not expect; she knew the prophet; she knew the veneration that Saul had for him; and she knew that her art had never exhibited a person of that figure to her. Various have been the opinions concerning this apparition of Samuel. From the manner in which we have interpreted these verses, and which seems to be just, there appears no doubt that this was a real apparition of Samuel, sent by the immediate intervention of God: for one cannot suppose, either that it was a trick put upon Saul by this sorceress, or that it was a demon which thus assumed the form of Samuel.
1 Samuel 28:7-12
7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.
8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.
9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?
10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.