And when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.
Israel and the Philistines face each other for the battle that will end Saul's reign. The verse then turns from the size of the enemy to the inner state of a man who had spent years refusing God.
Two things press on Saul at once: the army in front of him, and what he knows about himself.
The Philistines have come to fight against Israel (vv. 4-5). Their numbers and apparent power dismay Saul. He knows he is not equal to the occasion, and he needs help. ... What right did he have to the Lord's direction when he had refused the Lord's Word?
Saul's trembling was not just a commander weighing the odds. It had an older cause.
In Saul there was a sense of weakness and a feeling that defeat was coming. These are the sure companions of a guilty conscience. In the hour of his terror he turns to God. But he does not turn in repentance or hope, which always go with a true work in the soul. He turns in despair.
The next verse gives the result of his inquiry: no reply, by any channel.
The enemy gathers together: Saul "was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets" (vv. 5-6). This was worse than the days when Israel followed magic and foreign gods! Those at least seemed to answer Israel. It was an illusion, of course, but an illusion that lifted their sinking spirits for a moment. Now there is nothing but silence. What should he do? Whom should he ask? Whom can he lean on? Judgment is at the door: how can he escape it?
Each of the three ways of hearing from God was now closed — and one of them Saul had closed himself.
Long before this, he had broken off all connection with God. He had launched out on the broad river of self-will, and it was now carrying him swiftly to the final waterfall. So he gets no answer in any of the three possible ways. Dreams would be the most direct. God would come to him in the visions of the night and give His message, along with the certainty that it was true. Through Urim, God made His mind known by the priest. This worked through the Urim and Thummim in the breastplate the priest wore. But Saul had killed the priests, and so cut himself off from that source. And the prophet, the human channel of God's messages, was dead.
Scripture records this moment twice, and the two records seem to clash.
Look at 1 Samuel 28:6: "And when Saul inquired of the LORD." Now compare 1 Chronicles 10:14: "And did not inquire of the LORD." Samuel records the outward act. The Holy Spirit in Chronicles gives God's verdict on the inward condition of his soul. Despair forced a useless cry to the Lord out of his heart. But there was no real turning to Him — and He never shuts out the most desperate cry from a soul that is truly broken.
The same crisis showed what Saul had been trusting all along. Within hours he would be at the door of a medium at Endor.
But Saul's turning to a spirit medium for help is a true index of his heart. He had no faith in God. His faith was in the medium of Endor, and so he did not inquire of the Lord. In earlier days he had wrapped himself in zeal as in a garment. Extreme danger strips him of his borrowed robe, and he stands there in his own naked unbelief.
Saul's fear here is the first of three tremors. The line about the archers comes from an older translation of 1 Samuel 31:3.
Saul was terrified when Samuel announced the judgment (1 Samuel 28:20). He was afraid and his heart trembled greatly at the sight of the Philistine army — and that was only the preparation for judgment (1 Samuel 28:5). How much more when judgment actually falls: "He was much terrified by the archers." So from the moment the sinner stands before God's judgment, all his strength leaves him and gives place to terror.
- Fear — Saul's trembling is not a soldier's caution. It is the companion of a guilty conscience. He knows he is not equal to the hour.
- Silence — Fear sends him to God. Dreams, Urim and prophets give nothing back. He had cut himself off from the priests long before.
- Despair — Samuel records that he inquired; Chronicles says he did not. The outward cry was despair, not repentance. God never turns away a truly broken soul.
- Exposure — Danger strips off his borrowed zeal. He goes to the medium at Endor, and his real trust shows.
- Descent — The trembling only grows: at the army, at Samuel's sentence, at the archers. Before God's judgment a man's strength leaves him.
And Saul inquired of Jehovah; but Jehovah did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.