Judging by the biblical stories, magic in the eyes of God is a rejection of His teachings. And the Lord calls to avoid those who are engaged in magic, divination, divination, fortune-telling and spiritualism. The first king of Israel, Saul, was merciless towards people who used the services of various wizards and mediums, and performed a quick judgment on them. And suddenly he himself began to look for the wizard. No, not in order to punish him, but quite the opposite, in order to use his services.
And so the king learned that in the village of Endora, in a remote cave, there was a sorceress. And he went to her. Why did this happen?
Prophet's revenge
Once the prophet Samuel appeared before Saul, who said: "The Lord of hosts sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel." And then the prophet said that God, angry with the Amalekites, who, during the Jews' campaign in the desert, sneaked after them and killed the stragglers and children, ordered Saul to take cruel revenge on them, to destroy all their property, but in no case they had anything for themselves take away.
Then King Saul gathered an army and went to the city of Amalikov and made an ambush in the valley.
The Jews won the battle. Many Amalekites, as ordered by the Lord, were struck with swords, and the king of their enemies, Agag, the Israelites captured alive. By order of Saul, the Jews left for themselves the best enemy sheep, oxen and lambs, which violated the will of the Lord.
And again Samuel appeared before Saul: “The hosts regrets that they made you king, for you turned away from Him and did not fulfill His words. The Lord believes that disobedience to Him is the same sin as magic and idolatry."
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After these words, the prophet ordered to bring the captive king of the Amalekites to him. And Samuel said to Agag: "Your sword deprived mothers of their defenseless children, so let my sword deprive your son and your mother." After these words, the prophet Agag hacked to death.
God's wrath
When it was reported to Saul that the Philistines were already close to the borders of his country, he went with his entourage to look at their camp from afar. Seeing the innumerable army, significantly outnumbering his army, King Saul was frightened.
On the same day, King Saul turned to God. He wanted to know if his people had the opportunity to win this unequal battle, and what should he do now? But there was no answer. Not through the prophets, not in a dream. Then Saul began to seek the signs of God. But he did not manage to find them either.
Oathbreaker
Without waiting for an answer from God, King Saul, dressed in the dress of a commoner, accompanied by two servants, went to Endora to meet with the sorceress. He asked her to turn and lead him from the underworld to the one he asked for. But the woman was frightened and said that King Saul had expelled all the wizards from the country, prayed to be left alone, for she was afraid of the anger of the king of earth and the punishment of the ruler of heaven. And suddenly, looking at her uninvited guest, the sorceress recognized Saul. And even more frightened. But King Saul swore by the Lord that there would be no punishment for her. The woman calmed down and asked whom would Saul get out? And he ordered her to bring Samuel out.
Voice from the other world
Then the sorceress, believing the king's oath and performing spells, summoned the prophet. Saul fell to his knees before him.
Samuel was very unhappy: "Tell me, why did you disturb my peace?" The king prayed: “There is no rest for me either, for there is no end or end for the hordes of Philistines, the battle with which I face. The Lord turned away from me, He does not pay attention to all my prayers. And I need His instruction. That is why I dared to ask you, what should I do now?"
And Samuel answered: “Why do you pray to God, if He has abandoned you, for you have become His enemy? Now the Lord will take the kingdom away from you and give it into the hands of your neighbor, David. You hastened to call me, for both yourself and your sons will fall in battle with the Philistines, and you will be with me tomorrow."
Tragic death
The next day, a bloody battle took place, in which the Philistines, as predicted, were victorious. Saul's three sons perished in this battle: Jonathan, Abinadab and Melchisui.
King Saul fought bravely against the enemies who tried to capture him. He was already bleeding to death, but he was not going to surrender. Saul ordered his squire to stab him, not allowing his enemies to abuse him. But even at such a moment the squire did not dare to kill his master. And then Saul put out the blade of his sword, on which he fell with his chest.
The next day, when the Philistines returned to the battlefield to rob the fallen, they cut off the dead Saul's head and set it up at the place of worship of their god, Dagon. They also brought the bodies of Saul's sons there.
Learning of this, the Jews attacked the settlement of the Philistines, and they were led by soldiers from the city of Jabes, who were grateful to Saul for the fact that he had once saved them from the besieging Ammonites. It was in Jabes that the remains of Saul and his sons were buried. After this, the Israelites mourned and fasted for seven days.
This is how the first Israelite king Saul died tragically for not obeying the Lord.
Life textbook
“The sorceress herself, in spite of her disgusting way of life, is shown in the Bible rather as a sacrifice,” says the Spanish scholar Angel Alvarez, “because at first she tries to resist the will of a person who seemed unfamiliar to her. Finally, he recognizes him as a king, but still does not express the slightest desire to oppose God's will. He does not hide that he is frankly afraid of this. And then Saul commits the worst sin - he becomes an oath-breaker."
“Yes,” Jeremy Essens, a New Zealander, agrees, “very little space is given to the sorceress in the Bible, but great importance is attached. After all, the ways of the Lord are inscrutable, perhaps God would have spared Saul if he had shown that exceptional humility, but the king dared to turn to the sorceress. And this means - he did not perceive the wrath of God as deserved, but tried to outwit the Lord himself. This edifying Bible story teaches us that punishment for such crimes is inevitable. Pay attention, on the one hand, a sorceress, and on the other, a king, anointed by the Lord himself. And the sorceress behaved in this episode more worthy of God's anointed one. Who is this woman anyway?
In the Bible, this creature is mysterious. Is she a witch, a demon, a simple deceiver, or a medium? It seems to me a medium. King Saul got what he deserved. But why, some believers ask, did God allow the tsar and his sons to be buried with honor? I am convinced: again, because not a single act escapes the attention of the Lord. After all, knowing about the impending defeat, the king did not run away, did not try to endure the battle, but behaved in a royal manner. He voluntarily accepted death so as not to fall into the hands of enemies."
Canadian Bible scholar Henry Foosdolf wrote in his work on Saul: “Please note that the chapter on the sorceress of Endor is very different from the others.
The fact is that the Bible, as a rule, does not waste its precious pages on describing magicians, sorcerers and wizards. Most likely, the Bible does not need the woman herself as much as the need to show what will happen to a man, even a king, if he dares to turn to some magician. After all, the Bible is a kind of textbook for life."
