Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 28:12

"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." — 1 Samuel 28:12 (ASV)

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice. —Nothing is clearer from the narration than that the woman of En-dor saw something she never dreamed of seeing. Whatever did appear that night was different from anything she had seen before. Whether or not she was an impostor matters little to us. From the severe enactments in the Mosaic code concerning these practices, it would seem as if in the background there was something dark and sinister. In any case, on this memorable occasion, the witch was evidently amazed and appalled at the success of her enchantments. Ewald supposes that she burst into a loud cry on seeing Samuel’s shade, because it ascended with such frightfully threatening gestures, as it could have used only against its deadly enemy, Saul; and she then saw that the questioner must be Saul.

This can, however, only be taken as an ingenious surmise. There is a singular passage in the Chaggigah Treatise of the Babylonian Talmud (quoted below). This passage, contrary to the usual interpretation of the word rendered “gods” (1 Samuel 28:13), assumes that a second form “came up” with Samuel. One Jewish interpretation tells us that these were “judges”—so rendering the Elohim of 1 Samuel 28:13—judges robed in their judicial mantles. It was the sight of these awful ministers of justice that appalled the consciously guilty woman.

However, as deeply interesting as these traditions and comments are (likely handed down from a school of expositors that flourished before the Christian era), we hardly need anything more to account for the cry of terror that burst from the woman than this appearance of the venerable seer, evidently quite unexpected by her.

And the woman spake to Saul. —At this juncture, the woman recognised in the unknown stranger King Saul. For a moment, remembering his stern, ruthless procedure in such cases of sorcery as the one in which she was then engaged, she thinks herself betrayed and given over to a shameful, agonizing death. She then turns to the king beside her with a piteous expostulation, “Why hast thou deceived me?” The question now arises: How did she come to recognise Saul in the unknown? Ewald’s ingenious suggestion has been mentioned above.

Keil suggests that the woman had fallen into a state of clairvoyance, in which she recognised persons who, like Saul in his disguise, were unknown to her by face. Josephus (6:14, 2), no doubt writing from traditional sources, asserts that Samuel had most likely revealed the presence of Saul to the witch. “Samuel saw through Saul’s disguise, which had deceived her whom Saul came to consult, as he spoke to Saul as Saul. So Ahijah the prophet, though blind by age, saw through the disguise of the wife of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:2; 1 Kings 14:6).”—Bishop Wordsworth.

On the whole, Josephus’s explanation is probably the true one. It was some word—probably spoken by Samuel—not related here that betrayed the king’s identity to the woman. There is one other possible supposition, but it, of course, belongs to the realm of fancy. We know it was night, and Saul was disguised; no doubt his face was partially covered. Can we not imagine that with the appearance of the blessed prophet, with or without a companion, a light filled the dark room of the En-dor house? This light would have fallen upon the king’s face, who, in the agitation of the moment, would likely have thrown off the cape or mantle that shrouded his features. This is something of the awe-inspiring supernatural “light” Tennyson describes when he writes of the Holy Grail:

“ A gentle sound, an awful light!
Three angels bear the Holy Grail:
With folded feet in stoles of white,
On sleeping wings they sail.”—Air Galahad.