The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 523

to make disclosures concerning the future, and dwelling in them and speaking through them in hollow tones of voice, Isa. viii. 19 ; xxix. 4; ventriloquists, LXX. ; necromancers) "and wizards" (sorcerers). And when his inquiry of the Lord we.a not answered, he resorted to one of these, in the expectation of being told ,vhat he must do (ver. 15) to avert the wrath which he feared. In like manner the heathen resorted to their priests and diviners (eh. vi. 2). He was an embodiment of the heathen mind in Israel. "There were three courses open to him: he might sit down in quiet hopelessness, and let the evil come; or he might in faith and penitent sub- mission commit the whole matter to God, even amid the awful silence; or he might be- take himself to hell for counsel, since heaven was deaf. He chooses the last I 'Goel has cast me off; I will betake myself to Satan. Heaven's door is shut; I will see if h8ll's. be open' " (Bonar). He had about him servants who pandered to his superstitions- propensities (eh. xvi. 15), and informed him of a practitioner of the heathen art residing at Endor, eight miles distant (north of Little Hermon) ; and thither two oE them conducted him "by night." (Another of the night scenes of this book-eh. iii. 3 ; v. 3 ; ix. 25 ; xv. 11 ; xix. 10; x.xv. 36 ; xxvi. 7 ; xxx. 17). It was " a dreadful journey, a terrible night; both symbols of Saul's condition, lost on the way of inneL· self-hardening and thorough self-darkening" (Erdmann). The readiness with which he was directed to the sorceress shows the secret prevalence of superstition in Israel. 3. Ha failed to obtain the aid he desired, committed his crowning act of apostasy, and hastened his doom. "So Saul died for . . . asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it" (1 Chron. x. 13). "There is no wisdom, nor un- derstanding, nor counsel against the Lord" (Prov. xxi. 30). There may have heen "an objective reality, a dark background of magical agency JI (Delitzsch, 'Bih. Psychology,' p. 363); but, on the other hand, "the actual references to magic in Scripture do not involve its reality. The mischiefs resulting from the pretension, under the theocracy, to an act which involved idolatry justified the statute which denounced it with death JI (Kitto, 'Cyc.,' art. Witchcraft). "In the doctrinal Scrip- tures magic is passed by with contempt ; in the historical Scriptures the reasonable- ness of this contempt is shown. Whenever the practisers of magic attempt to combat the servants of God they conspicuously fail" (Smith's 'Diet.,' art. Magic). Resorting to superstitious practices of various kinds (the selection of" lucky" days, fortune-telling, spirit-rapping, psychography, necromancy, and, in more direct con- nection with the Ch1istian religion, image-worship, prayers to the dead, superstitions rites and ceremonies of various kinds) is not unknown at the present day. Notice- 1. lTs INDUCEMENTS. Among them are-1. Unbelieving fear. "_Superstition is the restless effort of a guilty but blind conscience to find rest and peace and good by unauthorised propitiations and ceremonies JI (R. Watson). "The true cause and rise of superstition is indeed nothing else but a false opinion of the Deity, that renders him terrible and dreadful, as being rig·orous and imperious: that which represents him as austere and apt to be angry, but yet impotent and easy to be appeased again by some flattering devotions, especially if performed with sanctimonious shows and a solemn sadness of mind" (Smith, 'Se!. Dis. Superstition'). "The human heart needs something to cling to, something to which it may hold fast, a prop which its tendrils may firmly clasp; therefore when it leaves him for whom it was made, when it sinks into unbelief, then it clings to superstition and darkness" (Schlier). 2. Unliallowed curiosity, which is not satisfied with what has been revealed in the word of God, and wishes to become acquainted with the secrets of the unseen world and the future, designedly concealed. Such curiosity "is a flattering serpent, which promises us the wisdom of God, and cheats us out of a blessed paradise of happier, childlike waiting." "Let no man begnile you," &c. (Cul. ii. 18). 3. Foolish prl'r aitmpeion, which fancies that it can attnin the knowledge and help of the super- nntural by other ways and means than God has appointed. " He who, in respect of supersensual thiugs and of the mysterious background of sensible things, regards as true, and allows impressions to be made on himself by thoughts or occurrences whose reality has neither the warranty of undoubtedly credible tradition nor the warranty of internal force of conviction in their favour, is rightly called superstitions JI (Delitzsch). II. 1TB DBVIOBB, They ueue.lly-1. Involve artifice, effort, trouble, and sacrifice  TUE FlHST BOOK OF SAMUEL. [CH. XXYlll. 1-26,