Breaking Rank: 1 Samuel 28:3-14
The true test of character is how we act when left to our own devices. Anyone can make good choices when the camera is on and people are watching. Want to find out who you really are? Consider your choices when you are alone. What do you do, watch, say, or think when there is no proof of your choices?
Saul goes to see the medium at Endor. This is the ultimate nail in Saul’s coffin. Saul cast out all spiritists – people who call upon dead spirits or use other methods of divination apart from practices employed by priests of God – at the beginning of his reign. However, his policy wasn’t effective. This woman at Endor, a town a few miles south of Nazareth, was known to be practicing spiritism by Saul’s advisors. How effective could his policy have been?
There is no surprise Saul’s policy against spiritism isn’t effective. His own daughter, Michal, kept household gods when she married David. Saul didn’t take God’s commands seriously when he refused to destroy the Amalekites. Saul put up a holy façade, but that’s all it was. Saul’s spirituality had no depth, why would his spiritual policies have any depth, either?
When Saul goes to this spiritist, he disguises himself. Saul would disguise himself in case there were Philistine spies in the area. It wouldn’t do to have the king killed before a large battle as he scuttles off to do something clandestine against God. It also wouldn’t do to have Hebrew people watching their king skulk off to see a medium right before a big battle. How would the people have confidence God was on their side when their very own king was out breaking God’s Law?
This idea encapsulates Saul’s reign. He looks the part, but he doesn’t have the heart. Saul is big and tall and strong. Saul physically looks down on people. His presence in a room dominates most people. He is an ideal physical specimen to have as a ruler for a group of people.
Saul’s heart, though, is corrupt. He doesn’t have what it takes to follow God. He keeps the goods of the Amalekites for himself. He worships household gods within private chambers. He teaches his family to also worship household gods. He pursues David, a spiritual general who only wants to serve Saul in response to his calling from God, purely out of jealousy. He turns to spiritism after Samuel dies. Saul’s heart is weak, corrupt, and deteriorating rapidly. He looks strong from the outside, but there is nothing of substance within.
Saul began his career standing under God’s authority anointed by Samuel. Saul ends his career skulking off to consult a medium in the dark of night. God placed everything before him, but he didn’t have the heart to hold on. When other people put you in places to succeed, righteousness is easy. The true test of character is how we act when left to our own devices.
