The Echo in the Emptiness Text: 1 Samuel 28:15-19
Introduction: The High Cost of a Closed Heaven
We come now to one of the bleakest and most terrifying scenes in all of Scripture. This is the end of the line for Saul. This is what it looks like when a man who has rejected the Word of the Lord finally gets what he wants: a world without that Word. But he finds, to his horror, that a world without God's Word is not a world of autonomous freedom, but a world that is utterly and completely empty. It is a haunted house. And when God goes silent, a man in panic will seek out any other voice, even if it comes from the grave.
Saul is a man cornered. The Philistine army, a terrifying force, is gathered against him at Shunem. He has inquired of the Lord, but heaven is brass. God does not answer him, not by dreams, not by Urim, not by prophets. Why? Because Saul had systematically dismantled every authorized channel of communication. He had rejected the word of the prophet Samuel, he had murdered the priests of Nob who bore the Urim and Thummim, and his own rebellious heart had made his dreams a place of torment, not revelation. When you hang up on God repeatedly, do not be surprised when you finally get a dial tone.
So, in his desperation, Saul seeks out a medium, a necromancer at Endor. This is not just a minor misstep; this is high treason against the King of Heaven. The law was explicit: "Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am Yahweh your God" (Lev. 19:31). Saul himself had previously enforced this law, driving the mediums out of the land. But now, in his terror, he seeks refuge in the very thing he had outlawed. This is the anatomy of apostasy. Sin makes a man a hypocrite, and terror makes him a fool. He disguises himself and travels by night, which is fitting, for he is a man of the dark, seeking counsel from the darkness.
The scene that unfolds is not a parlor trick. The witch herself is terrified when Samuel actually appears, which tells you that this was not her usual demonic charade. God, in His sovereignty, hijacks this illicit séance. He commandeers the devil's microphone to pronounce a final, unalterable sentence upon his anointed but apostate king. Saul wanted to hear a voice from the other side, and God grants his request. But the voice he hears is not one of comfort or strategic counsel. It is an echo of the judgment he had heard years before from Samuel's own lips, a judgment now freighted with the finality of the grave.
The Text
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me, either by the hand of the prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do."
And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your adversary?
So Yahweh has done accordingly as He spoke by my hand, for Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.
As you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh and did not execute His burning anger on Amalek, so Yahweh has done this thing to you this day.
Moreover Yahweh will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed Yahweh will give over the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!"
(1 Samuel 28:15-19 LSB)
A Desperate Man's Plea (v. 15)
We begin with the dreadful conversation itself.
"Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?' And Saul answered, 'I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me and no longer answers me, either by the hand of the prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.'" (1 Samuel 28:15)
Samuel's first words are a rebuke. "Why have you disturbed me?" This is not the greeting of a long-lost friend. This is the irritation of a man at rest being summoned to the scene of a train wreck he had long predicted. Saul's reply is a litany of desperation. He is "greatly distressed." This is the end result of a life lived on his own terms. When a man makes himself the center of his own universe, the universe eventually collapses on him.
Notice the anatomy of his complaint. First, the external pressure: "the Philistines are waging war against me." Second, the spiritual reality: "God has turned away from me and no longer answers me." Saul correctly diagnoses his ultimate problem. His problem is not the Philistine army; his problem is the divine silence. But he fails to connect his actions to his condition. He sees the consequences but is blind to the cause, which is his own hard-hearted rebellion.
His final plea is the height of spiritual insanity: "therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do." Think about this. God, the living God, will not speak to him. So Saul's solution is to ask a dead man for advice on how to proceed. He has rejected the fountain of living waters and has turned to a broken, forbidden cistern. He is looking for a word, any word, to fill the terrifying silence. But he doesn't want God's word of repentance; he wants a word of strategy. He wants a battle plan, not a broken heart. He is not seeking reconciliation; he is seeking information. This is the heart of false religion. It uses spiritual means for carnal ends.
The Inescapable Logic of Judgment (v. 16-17)
Samuel's response is devastatingly logical. It is the logic of a covenant-keeping God.
"And Samuel said, 'Why then do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your adversary? So Yahweh has done accordingly as He spoke by my hand, for Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.'" (1 Samuel 28:16-17 LSB)
Samuel's question cuts to the very heart of Saul's folly. "Why do you ask me?" In other words, "Do you think I have a different opinion than God does? Do you think that now that I am dead, I have started my own consulting firm, independent of the Almighty?" This is a crucial point. The saints in glory are not a heavenly opposition party. Their wills are perfectly conformed to the will of God. To appeal to a dead prophet against the living God is to fundamentally misunderstand both heaven and God.
Samuel points out the obvious: Yahweh has not just turned away from Saul; He has "become your adversary." This is the terror of covenantal judgment. God is not a neutral, distant deity. If you are not for Him, you are against Him, and if you are against Him, He is against you. For the rebel, God is not a comforting thought; He is an active, holy, and just enemy.
And then comes the confirmation. God is simply doing what He said He would do. "Yahweh has done accordingly as He spoke by my hand." God's Word is not provisional. It is not a suggestion. His warnings are not idle threats. The judgment that is now falling on Saul is not a new development. It is the harvest of a seed planted long ago. The kingdom has been torn from him and given to David. This was settled business. Saul's frantic, last-ditch effort to get a different verdict is utterly futile. The court has ruled, the sentence has been passed, and the bailiff is at the door.
The Root of Rebellion Recalled (v. 18)
Lest Saul think this is arbitrary, Samuel reminds him of the specific, historical root of his downfall.
"As you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh and did not execute His burning anger on Amalek, so Yahweh has done this thing to you this day." (1 Samuel 28:18 LSB)
Here is the foundation of the whole sorry affair. Back in 1 Samuel 15, God gave Saul a clear, unequivocal command: utterly destroy the Amalekites as an act of judicial wrath. But Saul disobeyed. He spared King Agag and the best of the livestock, cloaking his rebellion in the pious language of sacrifice. He wanted the glory of a conquering king and the appearance of a devout worshipper. He wanted to obey God on his own terms. He wanted to edit God's commands.
And Samuel's word to him then was this: "Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, He has also rejected you from being king." Rebellion, Samuel said, is as the sin of witchcraft. How grotesquely fitting it is, then, that Saul's final end is wrapped up in the very sin that characterized his first great rebellion. He who lived by the logic of witchcraft now dies by it. The sentence pronounced here by the apparition of Samuel is not new information. It is simply the bill coming due. The sin against Amalek was the watershed moment. It was the point of no return. Every subsequent disaster in Saul's reign flows from that single, arrogant act of disobedience.
The Final, Terrible Sentence (v. 19)
The message concludes with a prophecy that is breathtaking in its specificity and finality.
"Moreover Yahweh will also give over Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed Yahweh will give over the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!" (1 Samuel 28:19 LSB)
First, the national consequence. Because of the king's sin, the nation will suffer. "Yahweh will also give over Israel along with you." This is the principle of federal headship. Leaders do not sin in a vacuum. Their rebellion brings calamity upon the people they lead. This is a sobering word for all who are in authority, in the home, in the church, and in the state.
Second, the personal consequence. "Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me." This is one of the most chilling lines in the Bible. "With me" here does not mean in a state of blessed fellowship. It means in Sheol, the realm of the dead. It is a stark, simple declaration of his impending death. There is no hope offered, no call to repentance, no way out. The time for that has passed. Judgment is now. The door is shut. Tomorrow, Saul and his sons will be dead on the battlefield.
The message ends by repeating the initial point for emphasis: "Indeed Yahweh will give over the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines!" The repetition is like the tolling of a funeral bell. It is certain. It is fixed. It is the sovereign decree of God. And it is the direct result of Saul's rejection of the Word of God.
Conclusion: The Only Voice That Matters
Saul's story is a tragedy of the highest order. He was a man given everything: a kingdom, God's anointing, and clear direction from a prophet. And he threw it all away because he wanted to be his own god. When the true God fell silent, Saul's frantic search for another voice led him only to a confirmation of his own damnation.
This is a permanent warning to us. We live in an age that, like Saul, is terrified of silence and desperate for a spiritual word. But it does not want the authoritative, demanding, and holy Word of God. It wants a word that will affirm it, a word that will give it techniques for success, a word that will scratch its itching ears. And so it turns to its own mediums, its own necromancers, whether they be self-help gurus, political messiahs, or watered-down pulpit entertainers who offer a crossless Christianity.
But there is only one voice that can break the silence of our sin and death. It is not the voice of a dead prophet, but the voice of the risen Son. When God turned away from Saul, it was a judicial sentence. But on the cross, when Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" it was a substitutionary sentence. He endured the ultimate divine silence so that we who believe in Him would never have to. He was given over into the hands of His enemies so that we could be delivered from ours. He went into the realm of the dead so that He could conquer it and lead us out.
The lesson of Saul at Endor is this: Do not reject the Word of the Lord. Do not wait until heaven goes silent. Listen to His voice today, the voice that speaks in the Scriptures, the voice that calls all men everywhere to repent. For if we reject that living Word, we will find, as Saul did, that on the day of judgment, there is no other voice in heaven or on earth that can help us. The only word left will be the echo of our own rebellion, reverberating in the terrifying emptiness.