If we examine I Sam. 28: carefully, we shall find that Saul himself saw nothing.

He asked the witch: "What form is he of?" and she replied: "An old man cometh up;

and he is covered with a mantle." We then read that "Saul perceived that it was Samuel"

(28: 13, 14). This might have been convincing enough to Saul in his overwrought

state, but it is hardly logical to conclude that an old man wearing a mantle must

necessarily have been Samuel. All that we actually know is that the witch was startled at

the apparition, that she perceived that her questioner was Saul, that she described what

she saw, and that Saul heard the prophecy. The prophecy was true, and in this we can see

the restraining hand of the Lord, but there is no reason to believe that the Lord made any

special exception in this case. Those who believe that the soul is immortal, and that the

dead are not really dead but alive in another sphere, may find "proofs" for what they

believe in this chapter, but we dare not run counter to the whole testimony of Scripture,

Spiritism, in all its ways, is from beneath and is abhorrent to the Lord.

We must now return to David and Ziklag (I Sam. 29: 1 - 30: 31). David was now

in a very serious predicament. The Philistines were gathering for war, and Achish had so

trusted David that he believed that he had "made his people Israel utterly to abhor him"

(27: 12). Moreover, he had made David "the keeper of his head" (28: 2). Whatever

David did now would be an act of treachery. If he betrayed the trust Achish had reposed

in him, it would be base indeed. On the other hand, how would it be possible for him to

fight with Achish against his own people and future subjects? This is surely a lesson for

us all. The man who sets out to please everybody generally succeeds in pleasing no one.

We well remember, when we first began our printed testimony, how many wrote to us

about the "mistake" of not being sufficiently diplomatic with regard to our attitude to the

Lord's Supper. It was suggested that it would limit the sphere of our ministry, and make

many turn back--and this was certainly the case. We decided, however, that the only

thing was to "burn our boats" so that there should be no compromise. We have certainly

"suffered" for our actions in some respects, but we have been spared the dreadful

predicament in which David found himself. There are also other elements of truth about

which some have compromised to their spiritual undoing. We need not mention them

specifically; each one will know his own heart before the Lord.

The Lord in mercy used the natural suspicions of the Philistines themselves to extricate

His servant, and he appears to have learned the lesson. Upon returning to Ziklag,

however, David found to his horror that the Amalekites had taken their revenge upon

him, and had sacked the town carrying away all the women as captives. So bitter was the

grief of David's men, that they even spoke of stoning him--"but David encouraged

himself in the Lord his God" (30: 6).

He now does what he had failed to do in chapter 27:  He enquires of the Lord

through Abiathar the priest, and received the assurance of victory. The six hundred men

who formed his band had already marched over rough country for three days, and by the

time they reached the brook Besor two hundred were so faint that they could go no

further. Much time was saved in the pursuit by the finding of an abandoned Egyptian

servant belonging to the Amalekites, and there was a great slaughter--only four hundred