Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 28-31.

We see King Saul’s complete desperation leading into his final battle in today’s passage.  One of the first things he had done as king was to drive all of those who communicated with the dead out of Israel.  Now as he faces battle against overwhelming forces he seeks one to consult the spirit of Samuel because he can get no answer from God by any of the means at his disposal.

SIDENOTE:Actually, I find it interesting that the passage tells us King Saul could not no reply from the Urim.  The Urim was to be kept with the Thummim in the high priest’s ephod and we know that Abiathar took the ephod with him when he fled to David.  Further, Abiathar used the ephod to divine God’s will for David.

So, why was King Saul so desperate?  It seems likely that the men following David were not the only potential members of King Saul’s army who had not responded to his call to arms.  Which resulted in King Saul’s army being much smaller than he expected it to be.  In any case, it shows that King Saul had recognized the failure of the path he had chosen, but had no idea how to change direction.  Once again, King Saul makes the wrong decision.  Of course, by this point I am not sure that he had left himself any way to make the right decision, but I do believe that as long as we live we may turn to God and beg His forgiveness.  If King Saul had done that here, he would probably still died in the coming battle, but the people of Israel might have suffered less.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.