(2 Samuel 28:12)

1^ST CATEGORY OT

QUESTION 27. DID THE WITCH MENTIONED SAMUEL; DID HE REALLY APPEAR BEFORE HER, AND DID HE SAY TO SAUL THE WORDS WHICH THE BOOK OF KINGS RELATES? — This fact seems to me scarcely worthy if one sticks to the simple words of the historical narrative. How can one admit that the power of magical art has forced the appearance of a man as holy in his works as in his birth? or that without being forced to it he appeared voluntarily? It is absurd to admit one or the other of these suppositions in this just man. If he has been mentioned in spite of himself, then justice has no power; if he consented to this evocation, he lost the merit of these virtues he had practiced during his mortal life; absurd consequence, for he who comes out of this life into righteousness perseveres in it. Now Satan's tricks go so far that to deceive a greater number he wants to appear to hold the good under his power. This is what the Apostle wants us to hear through these words: "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” (2 Cor. 11:14) In order to accredit an error which turned to his glory, he disguised himself under the exterior and the name of a righteous man, to show thus the little foundation of the hope given to the servants from God, since the righteous who came out of this life were subject to his own child. Some are deceived here because he has told the truth about the death of Saul and his sons, as if it were difficult for the devil to foresee before death and the death of the body, especially since warning signs are manifested to those whose death is near, because the protection of God seems to have withdrawn from them. How much more must we suppose this knowledge in the devil, whose prophetic oracles retrace to us the sublime dignity above all the angels and of which the Apostle said: "Do you therefore ignore the heights of Satan?" (Rev. 2:24, 2 Cor. 2:11) How is it astonishing that he could have foreseen the death of Saul, when this prediction served to deceive men and to be adored as clothed in his power? Saul pushed madness and stupidity to resort to the enchantments of a witch. The depreciation of his heart made him use sacrilegious means which he himself had condemned. If, out of respect for history, we do not think we ought to pass lightly on the literal account of the facts, we will be right, provided we do not conclude with the reality of these facts, but only with what impresses on the eyes and mind. Saul, reprobate of God, could not have a true and righteous spirit. The historian describes the provisions of Saul and the exterior of Samuel; he recounts the words that were said, the appearances that are glaring in the eyes, but without saying whether these appearances are in conformity with the truth or not. What does he say, indeed? Saul, learning in what form appeared the one he had asked, "understood that it was Samuel." (1 Sam. 28:14) The historian tells what was Saul's thought, and how that thought was not good. He adored another than God against the defense of Scripture, in the thought that it was Samuel, and he adored the devil, who thus collected the fruit of his tricks; for the purpose of all his efforts is to be adored as God. If Samuel had really appeared to Saul, this righteous man would not have allowed him to be worshiped, he who had taught that adoration was only due to God alone. How besides this man of God was with Abraham, in the abode of happiness, could he say to that guilty man worthy of the flames of hell: "You will be with me tomorrow”? Satan betrays here doubly the subtlety of his tricks; he allows us to worship him under the exterior and the name of Samuel against the express defense of the law, and in spite of the immense distance which separates the sinners from the just, he falsely proves to a man charged with iniquities that he will share the happiness of the most just of men. These words would be true if Samuel's name were not mixed in, because in reality Saul had to be with the devil. He went to find the one he had loved. The demon may disguise himself, but he is always betrayed by actions contrary to the character of the persons whose instruments he wishes to deceive.