1 Samuel 28:6

And when Saul inquired of the Lord,.... And this being not done truly and heartily, nor continued in, it was as if he had not inquired, and especially after he had inquired of one that had a familiar

And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. And when Saul inquired of the Lord.

Saul inquired of the Lord, in his slight and perfunctory way, as , as appears from hence, that when God did not speedily answer him, he goes to the devil for an answer, ; for which reason he is said, not to have inquired of the Lord, , i.e. not seriously, and after the right order. Possibly he inquired by some prophet then with him, or by the priest before the ark. The Lord answered him not, because he sought him not in due order; not by the Urim and Thummim which were in the ephod, which he by his cruelty to the priests had lost, ; and because he did not truly repent of nor put away his sins, which provoked God, and kept him from answering, as Saul well knew by his own conscience and experience, . Neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, i.e. neither by ordinary means, nor extraordinary.

1 Samuel 28:6 And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.Ver. 6. And when Saul inquired of the Lord.] Which he did not with a true heart, and Ficta pro factis non habentur, saith the Civilian: Nec videtur fieri quod non legitime fit: hence it is said that Saul inquired not of the Lord. He did, and he did not, because not uprightly nor constantly: and Nihil dicitur factum quamdiu aliquid superest faciendum. He should have persisted in seeking God, and not have run to light a candle at the devil, as they say: a sin, whereof his own hands wrought the revenge. The Lord answered him not.] And no wonder: since it was only extremity of distress that sent Saul to seek God; like as the drowning man catcheth at that bow which he contemned standing safe on the bank. Nor by Urim.] For Saul had slain those that wore the ephod: and Abiathar who had it was fled to David. That Saul now sent to Abiathar, is a conceit of the Rabbins. Nor by prophets.] He cared not for them in his prosperity, and now can have no comfort from them in the day of his distress. Let such look to it as slight God’ s faithful ministers.

(6) And when Saul enquired of the Lord.——The question has been asked, How was the enquiry made? for since the massacre at Nob, the high priest, or, at least, the priest in possession of the sacred ephod and the breastplate, with the Urim and Thummim, was, we know, in the camp of David, and we shall soon hear of a solemn use being made of the sacred gems. (See 1 Samuel 30:7-8.) It has been suggested by eminent Biblical scholars that after the murder of Ahimelech and the flight of Abiathar to David, Saul removed the national Sanctuary from desecrated Nob, and established it at Gibeon, where, during the first year of David’s reign, we find the Tabernacle, with Zadok, son of Ahitub, of the house of Eleazar, acting as high priest—probably placed in that office by Saul. This would account for the frequent reference in the time of David to two high priests, Zadok and Abiathar: Zadok, the high priest appointed by Saul, for a considerable period alone in charge of the Tabernacle; and Abiathar, who fled from Nob with the ephod and the sacred Urim, acknowledged by David as high priest, when the kingdom was restored eventually under one head. These two seemed to have divided the honours and responsibilities of the high priesthood. (See 2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 15:24; 2 Samuel 15:29; 2 Samuel 15:35; 1 Chronicles 15:11; 1 Chronicles 18:16.) This Zadok, we may assume, “enquired” for Saul:·some suppose by means of an ephod made in imitation of the ancient breastplate with the Urim in possession of Abiathar; but, as may be readily imagined, no response was received. It is also likely enough that some “prophets”—so called—trained, not improbably, in the school of Samuel, were present with Saul. These, too, of course, received no Divine message, either by voice or in dreams.

Verse 6. The Lord answered him not ] He used the three methods by which supernatural intelligence was ordinarily given:- 1. Dreams. - The person prayed for instruction; and begged that God would answer by a significant dream. 2. Urim. - This was a kind of oracular answer given to the high priest when clothed with the ephod, on which were the Urim and Thummim. How these communicated the answer, is not well known. 3. Prophets. - Who were requested by the party concerned to consult the Lord on the subject in question, and to report his answer. The prophets at that time could only be those in the schools of the prophets, which Samuel had established at Naioth and Gibeah. These were the only successors of Samuel that we know of.

6. when Saul inquired of the Lord] In 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 it is said that “Saul died … for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it, and inquired not of the Lord.” The contradiction is only in appearance. Instead of humbling himself in penitence for the sin which he knew must be withholding the Divine answer (1 Samuel 14:37), and persevering in his inquiry, he resorted to a plan which was tantamount to apostasy from Jehovah. answered him not] See Proverbs 1:24-30. by dreams] A recognised method of divine communications to man (Numbers 12:6). by Urim] Since Abiathar had carried off the Ephod with the Urim and Thummim when he fled from Nob, it would appear that Saul had had a new Ephod made, and appointed a high-priest in the room of Ahimelech. This conjecture is supported by the double high-priesthood of Zadok and Abiathar in David’s reign (2 Samuel 8:17, &c.), which may be accounted for by supposing that David allowed Zadok to retain the office to which Saul had elevated him. The following points may be noted with respect to the obscure question of the Urim, or Urim and Thummim. For a full discussion see Smith’s Dict. of the Bible. (a) The name signifies The Light and the Perfection (or the Truth), the words being ‘plurals of excellence.’ (b) It denotes certain material objects, placed inside the breastplate of judgment which formed part of the high-priest’s Ephod (Exodus 28:30). There are no directions for making them; it is implied that they were already in existence. (c) The purpose of this mysterious instrument is clear. It was a means by which the will of Jehovah was ascertained through the high-priest. The present passage is the only mention by name of its use after the entry into Canaan, though it is implied in ch. 1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 14:18, 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Samuel 23:9, 1 Samuel 30:7-8; 2 Samuel 21:1. After the Captivity it became a proverbial expression with reference to questions of special difficulty that they must wait for solution “until there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65). (d) The origin of the Urim and Thummim was not improbably Egyptian. A plausible conjecture connects them with the symbol of Truth worn by the priest-judges of Egypt, and the symbol of Light worn by members of the priestly caste. (e) The method of use must remain an enigma. The most probable theories are either (1) that they were consecrated objects by gazing on which the high-priest passed into a state of spiritual ecstasy, and purified from selfish and worldly thoughts became receptive of a supernatural illumination: or (2) that they were a special means of casting lots. Cp. note on 1 Samuel 14:41. by prophets] Cp. 1 Samuel 9:6, 1 Samuel 22:5, for instances of counsel given through prophets. The same three methods of inquiry are mentioned in Hom. Il. I.

When Saul inquired of the Lord ... - It is said 1 Chronicles 10:14 that one reason why the Lord killed Saul, and gave his kingdom to David, was because he inquired not of the Lord.

6. The Lord answered him not — Which showed that the divine anger was against him.