It has been quite a while since we spent time in our study through the life of David, but as we rejoin it in chapter 28 we find a nation and its king in crisis. An existential threat hangs over the countryside in the form of an invading army, and it seems that the aging and isolated despot, King Saul, is no longer equal to the task of repulsing them. As any of us might do in a crisis, Saul casts about for some bit of counsel that would tell him what to do, but his longtime spiritual adviser, the Prophet Samuel, is now dead, and in a fit of homicidal paranoia he has killed all the priests in the land. Most importantly the Spirit of God has utterly left him. He is alone, desperate, and, without God’s help, he is crumbling under the weight of his own crown. He apparently still clings to the hope that God will guide him as He did in the old days. However, in the absence of genuine repentance on the part of Saul, God remains stubbornly silent. Saul becomes so desperate with fear that he can’t eat or sleep and this drives him to do something very strange. He attempts to communicate with the Prophet Samuel from beyond the grave through the medium of a necromancer. We long ago abandoned our search for reason in the things Saul decides to do, but wouldn’t that be like using your girlfriend’s phone to give your wife a call? It’s not exactly going to start the conversation off on the right foot.

I hope you can listen in as we tackle this strange and confusing chapter, and ask, what does any of this have to do with us?