Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 28

The Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare. — This was evidently, as Josephus remarks, a great effort on the part of the Philistines. It was no ordinary raid or border incursion, such as seems to have been so frequent throughout the reign of Saul. Since their defeat in the Valley of Elah, which followed the single combat between Goliath and David, no such Philistine army had been gathered together. We are struck at once by the presence of the enemy in the heart of the land, no longer choosing the well-known and often-contested “Marches,” or border districts. The Philistines were now strong enough to strike a blow at the centre of the kingdom and to challenge a battle on the plain of Jezreel or Esdraelon, north of Ephraim and Issachar.

They probably marched along the sea-border of Canaan, collecting their forces as they advanced from each of their well-known military centres, and then, turning eastward, invaded the land by the Valley of Jezreel, or Esdraelon. They marched still eastward, and took up a strong position on the slopes of one of the groups of mountains that enclosed the broad plain of Jezreel toward the east, near the town of Shunem.

King Saul, quickly assembling the fighting men of Israel, marched in pursuit, and coming up with them in the Esdraelon plain, took up his position opposite the Philistines—only a few miles separating the two armies—on the slopes of another group of mountains, known as Mount Gilboa, lying to the south of the Philistine frontier. (There is a map of the Plain of Esdraelon in Stanley’s Jewish Church, vol. ii, Lecture 21, illustrative of this closing scene in Saul’s career, well worth consulting.)

And Achish said. — David soon found what a grievous error he had committed by taking refuge with the hereditary foes of his people. Lack of faith and patience had urged him to take this unhappy step. The sixteen months he had spent in Philistia had certainly been successful, inasmuch as they had strengthened his position as a “freelance” captain, but nothing more. They had been stained by bloodshed and cruelty. His life, too, was a life of duplicity and falsehood. The results of his unhappy course of action were soon manifest.

His nation sustained a crushing and most humiliating defeat, which he narrowly escaped being obliged to witness, if not to contribute to. His own general recognition as king was delayed for nearly seven years, during which period a civil war hindered the development of national prosperity.

Moreover, during this time of internal divisions, the seeds were all too surely sown for the future disastrous separation of Judah and the south from the northern tribes—a division which eventually took place in his grandson’s time, when his strong arm and Solomon’s wisdom and power were things of the past.

The summons of Achish to his great military vassal was perfectly natural: indeed, Achish had no reason to suspect that such a campaign as the one the Philistines were about to undertake against King Saul would be in any way distasteful to the wronged and insulted David. Not improbably, the presence of David and his trained force—including, as the wily Philistine well knew, some of the bravest souls in Israel—encouraged Achish and the other Philistine lords to this great and, as it turned out, supreme effort against Israel. The King of Gath and his colleagues in Philistia saw that, in the divided state of Israel, their chances of success were very great, and it is highly probable that they looked forward to establishing their friend and follower David on the throne of Saul as a Philistine vassal king.

And David said to Achish. —Sorely perplexed, David temporizes. He dares not refuse; and yet, the idea of commanding a Philistine division in a war with Israel was to him a terrible alternative.

And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make you keeper of my head forever. —The King of Gath, like so many others with whom the winning son of Jesse came in contact in his career, seems to have been completely won by his lovable, generous character, and would not see any ambiguity in David’s reply, but at once offers him in the coming campaign a most distinguished appointment in the army of Gath—the command of the bodyguard: for this is what Ewald understands the offer of King Achish to signify.

But, as we shall see, the blind confidence of the king was not fully shared by the Philistine chieftains; jealousy of the distinguished stranger captain opened their eyes to David’s real feelings (See 1 Samuel 29:3; 1 Samuel 29:11).

It is also quite conceivable that whispers concerning David's expeditions during the past year were current in some Philistine quarters. The king's eyes, these more far-seeing nobles thought, were blinded by his partiality for his military vassal (See Note on 1 Samuel 29:3).

Now Samuel was dead. —This statement is repeated here to introduce the strange, sad story which follows. The Septuagint, followed by the Vulgate and Syriac Versions, omitted it, not understanding the reason for its repetition.

And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. —This statement is also inserted to explain what follows. In other words, the compiler says: “Now Samuel, whom Saul was so anxious to see, was dead and buried; and the possessors of familiar spirits, whose aid Saul was about to invoke to carry out his purpose, had long since been put out of the land by his own order.” Those that had familiar spirits—those that had at their command ôboth, translated as “familiar spirits,” the plural form of ôb, a word which has never been explained with any certainty.

Scholars think they can connect it with ôb, to be hollow, and ôb is then “the hollow thing,” or “bag;” and so it came to signify “one who speaks in a hollow voice.”

Therefore, it appears to mean the distended belly of the ventriloquist—a term the Septuagint consistently uses to translate ôb. It is thus used to designate the male or female ventriloquist, as in 1 Samuel 27:3, 1 Samuel 27:9, Deuteronomy 18:11, and other passages, and also the spirit believed to speak from the ventriloquist’s belly, as it is used in this sense in 1 Samuel 27:8–9 and Isaiah 29:4.

This is the explanation given by Erdmann in Lange and by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Speaker’s Commentary.

The wizards. —Literally, the wise people. These are always connected with the ôboth, those that had familiar spirits. The name seems to have been given in irony to these dealers in occult and forbidden arts.

The Mosaic command respecting these people was clear and decisive: Thou shalt not suffer a witch (or wizard) to live (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27). We read that Saul, in his early zeal, had actively enforced these edicts of Moses. Apparently, due to the general laxity that had long prevailed in Israel, these laws had been allowed to remain unenforced.

And pitched in Shunem. — As has already been described in the note on 1 Samuel 27:1, the Philistine army had penetrated into the heart of Palestine. Marching across the Valley of Jezreel, they took up a strong position on the southwestern slope of “Little Hermon,” near the village, or town, of Shunem, a little to the north of Jezreel. Shunem is known in biblical history as the home of Abishag (1 Kings 1:3) and the dwelling place of the woman who entertained Elisha, and whose dead son he raised to life (2 Kings 4:0).

It has been identified by modern travelers. Conder describes it as currently being only a mud hamlet, with cactus hedges and a spring; but the view, he says, extends as far as Mount Carmel, fifteen miles away. It is now called Sutêm.

And Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. — Saul’s position was only a few miles distant from the camp of his enemies, on the slope of the hills opposite Shunem, but separated by the deep Valley of Jezreel. From the high ground near his camp, Saul could plainly see the entire Philistine army. Mount Gilboa is the name given to a range of lofty hills, rising 1,500 feet above the sea, and consisting of white chalk.

He was afraid. —There is no doubt that Saul was discouraged when he viewed the enemy’s ranks from the eminence of Gilboa. They were far more numerous than he had expected. But the real reason for his trembling must be sought in the awareness that God had forsaken him. Many of the well-known Israelite warriors had, during recent events, joined his dreaded rival, David, and David, he knew, was now the vassal of Achish, a Philistine king. We may imagine Saul, the forsaken of God, as he stood on the white chalk hill of Gilboa, gazing on the long lines of Philistine tents pitched on the opposite hill of Shunem, wondering if his old friend was there, with his mighty following, in the division of Gath.