Sermon 98: 1 Samuel 28:1-7

1. And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies that they might prepare for war against Israel: and Achish said to David: Knowing now I know that you will go forth with me to the camp, you and your men. 2. And David said to Achish: Now you shall know what your servant will do. And Achish said to David: And I will set you as guardian of my head all the days. 3. And Samuel was dead, and all Israel mourned him, and they buried him in Ramah his city, and Saul had taken away the magicians and soothsayers from the land. 4. And the Philistines gathered, and came, and pitched camp at Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel, and his heart was greatly afraid. 5. And Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, and feared, and his heart was greatly afraid. 6. And he consulted the Lord, and he did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by priests, nor by prophets. 7. And Saul said to his servants: Seek for me a woman having a python, and I will go to her, and inquire through her. And his servants said to him: There is a woman having a python at Endor.

There occurs to us here first to be considered, in what manner God chastises his own, that he may bring them back to the right way from which they had turned aside. Then how he does not deal with them in summary right, but punishes them gently. Above we heard David by lies and pretense persuading Achish that he was plundering the Israelites, while in fact he was rushing upon the Amalekites and neighboring peoples. In which matter there is no doubt that he sinned: since we ought to act candidly and sincerely with all; and lies, although harmful to no one, yet displease God, being indeed contrary to his very nature. And besides he was deceiving king Achish, by whom he had been received so humanely, so that he is not undeservedly condemned. Now follows what is to be considered, namely how he was punished by the Lord: who reduces him to such necessity that he is compelled to answer without deceit, and there is no longer any place either for lies or for pretense. For the Philistines, having gathered an army against the Israelites, were preparing to make an attack upon them. Meanwhile David thought himself safe, in that no further inquiry was made into his deeds, and that king Achish trusted him so much that, coming into a share of the spoil which David was driving, he thought himself satisfied: but God takes from him this leisure: since, summoned by Achish, he is ordered to come into the camp against the Israelites, and accordingly to attack the people of God with arms, of whom nevertheless he himself had been appointed leader and head by the Lord. By which reason he was losing the right of his royal dignity in rising up against those whose head he had been appointed. Nor was there any room left for excuse, since he ought to have died a thousand times rather than to have undertaken this. He is therefore compelled by Achish: which evil he brought upon himself when at the beginning he submitted himself to king Achish, and permitted that yoke to be placed upon him: for he ought to have taken care for himself, and to have excused himself by some plausible reason: but he himself cast himself into these snares, declaring repeatedly that he had been making spoil of the Israelites, from where it came about that Achish, believing this, wished to have him in his camp as one hostile to the Israelites. But on the other hand we see that God had mercy on him in that, after chastising him with this correction, he delivered him from the danger which he had created for himself. And these are the two chief points of this history to be observed at the beginning. Let us therefore learn, when various cares and difficulties press us on every side, not to throw snares upon our consciences, nor to flee to illicit remedies: since by that reasoning we would only make the evil graver. David indeed certainly, in the judgment of men, could not otherwise protect himself among the Philistines than by lying and pretending to be hostile to the Jews and to be plundering them, so that the difficulty into which he had been cast seems to excuse him before men, but before God there is no place for pretense or lying, who requires integrity of life and innocence: and therefore David took the worst counsel for himself before God, as sufficiently appears from the very outcome. Therefore, whatever difficulties bind us on every side, from which no exit is given, and on every side narrow straits press us: let us nevertheless take the utmost care lest, by pretenses and lies by which God is gravely offended, we strive to emerge from them, lest we tie the noose more tightly upon ourselves, and the more we shall seem safe from the danger, the more deeply we may by the Lord be plunged into it -- and deservedly indeed. Therefore, the more we are by nature prone to this vice, the more diligently must this doctrine be meditated, and God seriously called upon to govern us by his Spirit, and to preserve us in integrity and innocence of life, lest we ever turn aside either to the left or to the right, and lest we allow ourselves to be drawn from the right path by depraved counsels and pretenses, but rather that he himself may suggest what is to be done and said. And especially today this doctrine is useful, when we see men so corrupt that they are full of pretense, malice, perfidy, and finally of envy, so that snares are laid on every side for good men, and they can scarcely open their mouths without being trapped. Then therefore especially must this doctrine be taken up by us, and God called upon, that if we must converse with cunning and deceitful men, he may suggest to us that prudence which is alien to malice, frauds, and deceits, and may so protect us by his Spirit as we walk the right way that we may be deceived by no deceits. Moreover, when at any time he punishes us for straying from the right, let us know that no other privilege is owed to us than to David, whom we see to have been by no means spared by God: and therefore let us submit our neck and patiently admit the chastisement of the Lord, if we have tried to emerge from difficulties by lies, or pretense, or any other means by departing from the right way. Therefore, when God recalls us by his rods to the right way, let us acknowledge that this happens deservedly, and let us never speak against his judgments: since we see that David, distinguished by so many gifts and graces of God, was received no otherwise.

Meanwhile, however, an example of God's singular mercy appears in David, whom God, called into the most extreme danger of life, suddenly and beyond human opinion, frees from it -- not otherwise than as if someone, seizing his son, were to pretend that he wished to throw him into a pit or into the fire, by which act the son might be so terrified as to think himself near death, although the father all the while holds him with his hand, and has no intention of destroying him: but in this way he wishes the chastised son to be wise hereafter and mindful of his sin committed, lest he fall into the same again. By no other reason did God act toward his servant David, when, summoned by king Achish, he is ordered to follow him as he sets out to war against the Israelites. For David it would certainly have been far more advisable to break his neck than to advance one step toward making war upon the church, since by that means he would have sent away word from all the divine promises. But yet he is now reduced to this necessity, divine justice deservedly exacting from him punishments for his lying and pretense, so that he is now compelled seriously to do what he had previously falsely claimed to do: and so much is he pressed that Achish says he wishes to have him hereafter as guardian of his head: so that now no place is left for dissimulation, but David must conduct himself vigorously, and pollute his hands with the blood of the faithful, and of those who were reckoned as God's people. Finally David had to become brave and vigorous in the slaughter of God's people: and therefore in the opinion of men he could not but provoke against himself and his head God's dreadful vengeance, and become guilty before God of many crimes. But God here worked in a wonderful way, since he stirred up the chief men and governors and captains of the Philistines, who had authority with king Achish, to persuade the king to dismiss David from himself. No angel sent from heaven, no prophet, but the Philistines themselves free David, and snatch him from imminent peril, so that, departing from their camps, he commits nothing against conscience, nothing against right. Although also, as we shall see hereafter, he could have defended himself by another means, yet truly the nearer he approached to the possession of the kingdom, the more grievously he was tempted by afflictions: from which he was rescued by an admirable means: so that there was offered to David no small occasion of recognizing that God had stretched out his hand to chastise him: but yet content not to have struck him, he showed him the rods without the blow and the punishments which he had deserved. In which an excellent mirror is set before us, in which we are taught what we must do in cases of this kind.

Moreover the circumstances which are here noted are not to be passed over without observation: that Samuel had died, and had been buried in his city Ramah: although these things are now mentioned in passing, that Saul might be shown to have been destitute of counsel after Samuel's death, and accordingly that no other remedy was left him but to flee to the Pythoness: and therefore also explicit mention is made of the Pythonesses being expelled and removed by Saul out of the whole region, by command of the divine law. Now however he is convicted of unbelief, when he is said to have fled to diabolical revelations, since God refused to answer him by oracle. As to Samuel being said to have died, from this we can conjecture that Saul, while he was alive, could sometimes have taken counsel from him as from God's prophet: and so although he had been hostile to the prophet himself because of the message brought to him concerning the taking away of the kingdom which he had obtained for a time, and concerning the curse of the Lord into which he had run by his rebellion: nevertheless he had cherished and revered him as God's prophet: so that in this man one might see affections fighting against each other, like waves of the sea dashing against one another. Therefore Saul on the one hand foams out his fury like a savage beast, when he perceives that he has fallen from the royal dignity by divine decree: but on the other he is restrained as if by a bridle, and is compelled, even unwillingly, to submit himself to the divine word, and to be obedient to it. But let us on the contrary by this example learn not to be double or feigned. For what shall happen to us wretches if we have imitated Saul? But rather let us conduct our affairs candidly and sincerely. For God cannot bear to be worshipped in part, and that men should have, as Scripture says, a heart and a heart.

What next follows, about the sorcerers and enchanters being driven out of the whole region by Saul, makes for his praise. God indeed had declared the corruption of his worship to be abominable, and had expressly commanded that all diviners and enchanters be removed from the land. But because women are usually prone to these vices, therefore mention is here made chiefly of them: and in the law, although sometimes men are named, yet all enchantresses and sorceresses are commanded to be killed. But why does God so expressly mention that sex rather than the male, on whom rather, because of fragility, he ought to seem to have mercy, and not to afflict with the same punishment as men? But God so willed, that as the vice grew worse, heavier punishments also be appointed against it in either sex. So thieves are punished in one place with more severe, in another with milder penalties. Finally, as offenses increase, like blasphemies, adulteries, fornications, the punishments also ought to be increased, so that their gravity may deter from sinning. Therefore for this reason God expressly commanded that all sorceresses and enchantresses be punished with capital punishment: which was a general law of God: that no divinations whatever were to be borne unavenged: that by these Satan is accustomed to mock men: and such is the corruption of human nature, that it neglects those things which are worthy of knowledge and necessary, and rather turns all its zeal to curious and useless matters, and feeds the soul with empty speculations. But chiefly, if any difficulty and care troubles us, we do not rest until we are made certain what the outcome will be: if we undertake anything, we desire to know the event. By which reasoning Satan finds an easy path for himself in deceiving men with vain illusions, who of their own accord indulge curiosity. But yet the pretext was plausible, for sorcerers and diviners always bring forward the name of revelation. And all persuade themselves that every revelation flows from God, so that those who have applied themselves to sorceries seem to themselves to have God favorable, and to have familiarity with him, and to search out the secrets of his counsels. Hence it comes about that the nefarious art of divination is covered nevertheless with the plausible name of virtue: when yet they have served devils, who supposed themselves to be inquiring after the will of God. Therefore by divine law every kind of divination is condemned. For it does not condemn divinations with one word only, but enumerates their various species: and forbids by name in his law that they inquire about the future from stars or from other signs in the sky, nor from the dead nor from auspice: finally it forbids fleeing to familiar spirits or inquiring from them the events of future things, that he may take away every excuse from the people if it has set its mind on such impostures and illusions: and may teach them to use caution lest they suffer themselves to be corrupted by such crimes. Therefore God not only forbade divination in general, or witchcraft: but he also expressly mentioned other species, lest, if he had spoken only of one kind, men might except, that auspice was not forbidden, since birds are good things created by God, and accordingly that we should not close our eyes if God should wish us to receive from them signs of future things: finally, unless God had once cut off the handle of such curiosity from men, men would have permitted themselves anything in this matter: and the devil from another side too lies in wait for us, and overwhelms the unwary with such illusions, because we have not learned to resist temptations by watching. All the frauds of the devil therefore are to be guarded against, so that if we have escaped one of them we may fear another, and let us continually pray to God that, according to his mercy, he may protect us, and in such dense darkness of this world illumine our minds by his Spirit and brightness, and adorn us with that prudence and intelligence by which we may stand firm against any temptations whatever, and may never permit ourselves to be led from the right way.

Further, in that mention is made of the Pythoness woman, this came from the heathen, among whom there was a kind of divination by which impure spirits, insinuating themselves into human bodies, gave forth oracles, and these prophets were called Pythons. This kind of divinations made through Pythons God expressly forbade to his people, besides other species of divinations, in Deuteronomy 18. And lest the people should have occasion of complaining, as if their condition were worse than that of other peoples, who had their seers and diviners, of whom God's people themselves would be deprived, God promised that he would give them what they ought to be content with: namely, besides his law, which had to be the firm and immovable rule of their life, he would also give them prophets, faithful interpreters of his will. For this cause God gravely rebukes the people in Isaiah, because they consulted Pythons or soothsayers who chirp and mutter, and because they questioned the dead on behalf of the living, and he commands them to consult the law of the Lord, because in it they have testimonies sufficiently manifest of the divine will and the faculty of inquiring about all things which make for their salvation. Finally God wished them to be retained in the simplicity of his word, in which as in the sole goal of wisdom our salvation consists: and therefore that all other species of divining of the nations be rejected, and whatever may appear outwardly to be of any good, yet to be wholly abolished. And there is no doubt that this law still retains its force today among Christians, and accordingly that certain impure and profane men, contemners of the divine word, are to be removed afar — those who think it ridiculous to wish to exterminate such sorcerers and diviners, as if God speaking through his prophets had been deceived in forbidding every kind of divinations and impostures, by which Satan is accustomed to impose upon men and bewitch their minds. Let us know therefore that the frauds of the devil and his nature hostile to the human race must be guarded against by us with the utmost care: because, since by nature he is a liar, he has a thousand frauds by which, having allured wretched mortals, he leads them from the right way. Whatever therefore is forbidden by God's law, let us flee with all our strength, and recognize that we cannot be reckoned among his people unless we are pure from all these pollutions. And since we see that the Israelite people, although they had received the divine law, were so prone to this vice, let us be the more cautious in fleeing the frauds of the devil: for we are not better than the Jews, whom if the devil so bewitched that they should despise so express a command of God, and rush into the contrary vice, he is going to have far greater power in deceiving and beguiling us, unless we beware. Therefore we ought to be contained within the bounds of the divine word, and to dwell in the fear of him night and day, and to reject curious knowledge to the best of our ability: seeking to know nothing else than what God himself has wished us to know about future things. For as concerns the governance of our souls, we have the law, the prophets, and the gospel as a sure and unquestionable rule by which we are led to God. And to these is also added the benefit, namely the exposition of the divine word, from which we can know what is useful for us, what is necessary. As concerns polity and the state of the commonwealth, we have the knowledge of the human sciences, from which we learn what needs to be done. With all of which it behooves us to be content, taking the utmost care lest we frolic like wild horses, and inquire too curiously into things which it concerns us nothing to know: which vice however today greatly prevails in many, and indeed in chief men, who lead about with them their soothsayers, their diviners and ordinary conjurers. Which crime, since God has so severely condemned it as most grievous, there is no doubt that these men will at last suffer the most grievous punishments before God for the deed itself. Let one God therefore suffice for the living and the dead. Let one be our salvation and the way to it.

Further, someone might say that Saul is here punished by God more severely than he seems to have deserved, because, since he had taken away the diviners and enchanters from the land according to God's command, he ought at least to have obtained mercy from God, so that for his good deeds God might repay him his grace. But it is to be observed that it is not enough that someone has begun well unless he has persevered to the end. Saul therefore had begun well in exterminating diviners and enchanters out of Judea, but his zeal was not lasting: since almost in a moment he returned to the Pythons, whom he had previously exterminated, so that he shares the worship between God and the impure spirit. But we ought to walk on the right way, never turning aside either to the left or to the right.

Moreover, it is also to be observed from this that, although good laws have been laid down, men never observe them so well that some abuse does not always prevail among them. For example, Saul forbade in all Judea fleeing to diviners or enchanters, and indeed commanded sorcerers and sorceresses to be punished even with death, so that the land might seem to have been purged of such wicked men: but yet his very ministers suggest to him that there is at Endor a certain Pythoness. Was it not, I ask, the office of the king's ministers to observe the law diligently and to refer those who offended against it to the king? How then did those public ministers, who ought to have upheld the authority of the law, tolerate that sorceress Pythoness? Thus indeed those in authority are usually accustomed to be blind to vices of this kind, and although with their mouth they profess to wish to advance God's glory and honor with all their might, and to procure the salvation of the people, yet in fact they are found to have feigned a face, and to have closed their eyes to manifest vices, and to have wavered between two sides. This passage therefore admonishes all those who sit at the helm of affairs, that they see to it that they do not conduct themselves dissimulatingly in God's business: but rather administer all things candidly, lest they be judged by the sentence of the divine Spirit. For just as Saul's ministers are noted by the divine sentence, so it is certain that those of old must one day render account to God. For why have laws been laid down, except that they should be observed to the letter? Truly it is the highest contempt of God to break and violate laws that have been laid down. Indeed those who have been put in charge of the law ought to take pains that they themselves may be a law to peoples to whom no law has yet been set forth. But if laws have been laid down for the preservation of the commonwealth or of the region, they are not to be valued at a hair unless they are observed to the letter. For the greatest confusion must necessarily be brought into commonwealths or kingdoms in which magistrates are not feared, or in which they connive at vices. But because these men abuse the name of God to conceal their own baseness, therefore they will experience that the laws which they have brought forward are set against themselves. Nor indeed do these things pertain only to judges and chief men of authority, but also to their ministers, and finally to all citizens, who ought to know that God will not leave the abuse of the laws he has given unavenged. Furthermore, by no means is it to be feared that there should be too great severity in judgments, when crimes are to be repressed to which by nature all are prone. Saul therefore is in this place commended by the Holy Spirit, in that he exterminated the sorcerers and diviners, while at the same time he is on the other hand condemned with his ministers, in that they tolerated the Pythoness, to whose oracles many fled, which could not be done without the gravest crime, since with impunity many flocked to her.

Further, that Saul consulted the Lord, was indeed worthy of praise: but that God did not answer was a just punishment for the sins he had previously committed. But chiefly those words are to be considered, in which Saul is said, having beheld the camps of the Philistines, to have feared vehemently, and his heart greatly trembled. He should indeed have feared, but not however have been terrified. Why so? Because that fear and trembling is the just judgment of God upon contemners of his word, that those who do not fear God should be terrified by men, indeed by their own shadow: Saul had risen up against God with a kind of insane arrogance joined with cruelty, and seemed to seek heaven itself with his horns, and as it were to make war against God. Now therefore he must take away the reward of that arrogance, and at the sight of his enemies be terrified. I confess indeed that the faithful are moved at the presentation of dangers, since they are not insensible: but God so tempers their fear that they rest in him, certainly persuaded that divine help will never be lacking to them, and accordingly they place themselves and their affairs in his hands. Behold by what reason God softens the fear of his servants, and in the midst of afflictions and difficulties supplies to them an argument of the highest consolation and tranquility in hoping in God ...those who confide in him, while on the contrary the wicked tremble at the slightest noise, even at the motion of a leaf, and cannot rest, nor can their fears of the dangers which seem to hang over their heads be calmed — no otherwise than as if heaven itself were collapsing onto their heads — and so they fear what is no danger. And indeed it is the special privilege of the children of God to have peace and tranquility of mind, on account of which Paul says that this peace brings victory once all difficulties have been overcome. Paul therefore shows that a quiet and tranquil mind is the special privilege of God when we flee to him and place all our confidence in him. On the contrary, contumacy and rebellion against God bring perpetual perturbation of mind, and inflict such and so great a fear upon the contumacious that, without occasion, as if driven by some gadfly and stirred up by furies, they cannot rest, since God sends various objects to meet them so that they can nowhere be at quiet, nowhere safe. For this reason God by name in the law threatens that the wicked shall have a trembling heart and shall ask: Who will bring back tomorrow? Who will make the night pass? Not without reason, therefore, was so great a terror sent upon Saul, since previously he had so freely and arrogantly, as with loose reins, shaken off the yoke of God and had permitted himself more than was lawful. And as for the fact that God now grew deaf to his prayers and gave him no response, this happened deservedly because of his own deed.

As for the statement that God answered him neither by Urim nor by Thummim, this refers to that custom which is dealt with in Moses in Numbers, by which God was accustomed to reveal himself through visions and dreams, with prophecies joined. Now the prophets' proper vision was through Urim and Thummim, in that they could give an account of what they had seen, while others only saw in dreams what God revealed. Now therefore Saul strives toward God, and prays that he may make manifest to him what needed to be done, whether by a dream, as often elsewhere, or by prophecy, so that there is no doubt that he consulted those who had the gift of prophecy, in order to obtain grace from the Lord. He seems therefore, after Samuel's death, to have summoned the prophets, and also to have fled to the high priest, to which the word 'Urim' seems to point. But why, I ask, did God not hear him fleeing to him? Surely he did not appear through dreams. For since Saul had hardened in his obstinacy, and had grown drowsy in his stubbornness, why should God submit himself to him? Why should he answer him who had pursued David so long, so cruelly and inhumanely, with no injury offered him? Should God deign to imbue that foul and putrid vessel with the grace of his Holy Spirit? That would have been too great a profanation of God's gifts. For this reason, therefore, God hid his countenance from him, and rejected him, answering him neither through sleep nor through any other vision. And as for the fact that Saul seems to have revered the prophets, and especially Samuel, that was mere pretense. For did he not chafe against Samuel as he announced God's judgment to him? Indeed, that he had perpetually gnawed the bridle with his teeth and concocted his anger inwardly and fostered malice is clear, although outwardly he displayed some kind of show of honor and reverence toward him whom he could in no way despise — and therefore he was unworthy that God should answer him through the prophets, but it appears that he had deservedly fallen from God's grace, especially since he had polluted his hands with that bloody slaughter of priests. Moreover, the Urim was a notable stone in the priestly garment, shining with a singular brightness, just as the very word indicates, which signifies splendor. And this brightness of the stone was a sign of receiving prophecy as necessity demanded, with God himself as it were flashing in the darkness, in whom alone is all perfection and integrity. Now it was proper to the priest to inquire by Urim and Thummim, since indeed the high priest was a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, which grace of revelation, however, was communicated also to other priests. But how great a slaughter of priests had Saul perpetrated, and had he not defiled God's sanctuary and risen up against God himself with the highest arrogance and contempt, and seemed to have utterly destroyed all religion? With what shame, then, I ask, did that profane man consult God and demand that counsel be given to him whether through dreams, or through priests and prophets? For it had not been because of him that the entire priestly offspring, and the priesthood itself, was not abolished, with the priests slaughtered, only Abiathar escaping, by whose ministry he wished in some way to refresh David. Indeed, having taken away the saving counsel of the priest, in which the salvation of the whole world consists, he seemed to wish to deprive all the faithful of various aid in their difficulties. With what face, then, did that wicked man seek counsel from the Lord through the prophets, whom he had wished to be slaughtered and destroyed by the highest crime? But thus all despisers of God are accustomed to act, who, after they have given over their soul to all manner of wickedness, with shameless mouth do not fear to implore God's aid in great difficulties; and unless God brings it according to their own judgment, they are tormented and rage against the Lord, complaining that there is no place for mercy with God. Thus today you may see many guilty of many crimes, and meriting the gravest punishments, who, if they confess the crime even in word and weep a little, expect to be considered as one for whom Saul perpetrated that butchery in one day — by which logic, as it were, they think they are doing a great injury to God if they are not at once freed from their crime. By this passage we see with what broken impudence... ...let us learn to approach with all modesty when about to consult God, to abstain from all savagery and cruelty, being firmly persuaded that divine aid will never fail us. For we know that what the prophet said is true, that the ear of the Lord has not become deafer than of old; for if of old God heard those who fled to him, let us not doubt that he will show himself easy and kind to those who rightly call upon him. For neither has his arm, that is, his strength and power, been diminished, so that he cannot help those fleeing to him as he did of old. From where then does it happen that our prayers are often vain and ineffectual, and we seem to have fallen from our hope? Truly our sins, like certain bars, shut off God's grace from us, and our iniquities make a divorce between God and us, and cast as it were an immense abyss between God and ourselves. Hence it often happens that God's mercy does not reach us, and we are not lifted up by his power. Therefore let us turn to God with true faith and repentance, which reconciles him to us; for it is certain that, touched with serious repentance for our sins, we shall obtain mercy from God, provided we embrace his promises without doubting. Saul was not so disposed, nor did he address God with this modesty, humility, repentance, and faith, so that he was deservedly rejected by the Lord, and in him was fulfilled that threat made by God through the prophet: 'You shall cry out,' he says, 'but you shall not be heard in that day.' As long as Saul, holding the prophets in honor, called upon God, he experienced his help; but now, with the priests of the Lord slaughtered, he receives his reward. And he indeed wails, and bellows like a bull, but yet without aid, of which he was unworthy, since he was not touched with serious sorrow for his sins; so that it must needs be that he experience that curse of God which he had brought down upon his own head, as we have seen before and shall see hereafter in many things.

Now then come, etc.

## HOMILIA XCIX.

1. In those days the Philistines gathered their armies to fight against Israel. Achish said to David: You know that you and your men must march out with me in the army. 2. David said to Achish: Then you shall see what your servant can do. And Achish said to David: I will appoint you as my bodyguard for life. 3. Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and the spiritists from the land. 4. The Philistines gathered and came and camped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel and they camped at Gilboa. 5. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by the priests, or by prophets. 7. Then Saul said to his servants: Find for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire through her. And his servants said to him: There is a medium at Endor.

Here we must first consider how God chastises His own to bring them back from the path they have wandered from. Then notice that He does not deal with them in harsh summary judgment, but punishes them gently. We heard above how David deceived Achish with lies and pretense, claiming to be plundering the Israelites while in fact attacking the Amalekites and neighboring peoples. In this he unquestionably sinned — we ought to deal honestly and openly with all people, and lies, even when harmful to no one, displease God because they are contrary to His very nature. On top of this, he was deceiving King Achish, who had received him with such kindness — and for that he deserves condemnation. Now comes what follows: how the Lord punished him. God reduced him to such a situation that he was forced to answer without deceit, leaving no further room for lies or pretense. The Philistines had gathered their army against Israel and were preparing to attack. David thought himself safe — no further questions were being asked about his activities, and King Achish trusted him enough that he was content to share in the plunder David brought in. But God took away that comfortable situation: summoned by Achish, David was ordered to march in the camp against the Israelites — to take up arms against the very people God had appointed him to lead and be head over. By doing so he would have lost the right to his royal dignity, rising up against those whose head God had appointed him to be. There was no room for excuses — he should have been ready to die a thousand times rather than undertake this. Achish was now compelling him — and David had brought this trouble on himself when he had first submitted to King Achish and allowed that yoke to be placed on him. He should have protected himself from the start and found some plausible reason to excuse himself. But he cast himself into this trap by repeatedly claiming he was plundering the Israelites — which caused Achish to believe it and want him in his camp as an enemy of Israel. On the other hand, we see that God had mercy on him: after chastising him with this discipline, He delivered him from the danger he had created for himself. These are the two main points to observe at the beginning of this account. Let us therefore learn: when pressures and difficulties crowd us on every side, we must not lay snares on our own consciences or flee to forbidden remedies — for that will only make the evil worse. In human eyes, David seemingly could not protect himself among the Philistines in any other way than by lying and pretending to be their enemy's enemy. The desperate situation he was in might seem to excuse him before people — but before God there is no place for pretense or lying. God requires integrity of life and honesty — and therefore David took the worst possible course before God, as the outcome shows clearly enough. Therefore, whatever difficulties bind us on every side with no apparent exit — let us take the utmost care not to try to escape them through pretense and lies, which gravely offend God. If we do, we will only tighten the noose around ourselves: the more we appear to be safe from danger, the more deeply God may plunge us into it — and deservedly. Since we are by nature so prone to this vice, let us meditate on this teaching the more diligently and earnestly call on God to govern us by His Spirit, preserving us in integrity and honesty of life — so that we never veer to the right or left, never allow ourselves to be led off the right path by corrupt counsel and pretense, but so that God Himself may show us what is to be done and said. This teaching is especially useful today, when people are so corrupt — full of pretense, malice, treachery, and envy — that traps are laid on every side for honest people, and they can barely open their mouths without being caught. This teaching must therefore be taken up by us with special care, and God called upon — so that when we must deal with cunning and deceitful people, He may give us the prudence that is free from malice, fraud, and deception, and so protect us by His Spirit as we walk the right way that we are not caught by any trap. And whenever God punishes us for straying from the right path, let us know that we are entitled to no better treatment than David received — whom we see God did not spare at all. Let us therefore bow our necks and patiently accept the Lord's discipline, if we have tried to escape difficulties through lies, pretense, or any other means that depart from what is right. When God recalls us to the right path by His disciplines, let us acknowledge that this happens justly, and let us never speak against His judgments — for we see that David, distinguished by so many gifts and graces of God, received no different treatment.

Meanwhile, a remarkable example of God's singular mercy appears in David. God, who had brought him into the most extreme peril, suddenly and beyond all human expectation, freed him from it — much like a father who grabs his son and pretends he is about to throw him into a pit or into the fire. The son is terrified and thinks himself near death, but the father is holding him all along with no intention of harming him. By this he wishes the chastised son to become wiser going forward and to remember his failure, so as not to fall into the same thing again. This is exactly how God acted toward His servant David, who was summoned by King Achish and ordered to follow him into war against the Israelites. For David, breaking his neck would certainly have been far better than advancing a single step toward making war on the church — for that would have meant casting away all the divine promises. Yet he was now reduced to this extremity, as God's justice rightly demanded punishment for his lying and pretense. He was now being compelled to do in earnest what he had previously only pretended to do. And Achish pressed matters so far that he announced he wanted David as his personal bodyguard from that point forward — leaving no room for any further pretense. David would have had to act decisively and defile his hands with the blood of the faithful, those reckoned as God's people. David was on the verge of being driven to fight boldly in the slaughter of God's people — and in human reckoning, he could not have escaped provoking God's terrible vengeance against himself and becoming guilty before God of many crimes. But God worked in a wonderful way: He stirred up the chief men, commanders, and captains of the Philistines — those with authority before King Achish — to persuade the king to send David away. Not an angel sent from heaven, not a prophet — but the Philistines themselves freed David and snatched him from imminent disaster. He departed from their camp having done nothing against his conscience, nothing against what was right. Although, as we will see later, he could have defended himself by another means — yet the nearer he drew to the possession of the kingdom, the more severely he was tempted by afflictions. From those afflictions he was rescued in a remarkable way, so that David had ample occasion to recognize that God had stretched out His hand to discipline him — yet in the end, satisfied not to strike him, He had showed him the rod and the deserved punishment without the blow. In this an excellent mirror is set before us, teaching us what we must do in cases of this kind.

The circumstances noted here must not be passed over: Samuel had died and was buried in his city Ramah. These details are mentioned in passing to show that after Samuel's death, Saul was left without counsel — and so no other option remained to him but to flee to a medium. For this reason it is also specifically noted that Saul had expelled all mediums and spiritists from the region, in obedience to God's law. Now he is exposed as an unbeliever when he flees to demonic revelations, since God refused to answer him by any oracle. The mention of Samuel's death allows us to infer that while Samuel was alive, Saul could sometimes have sought counsel from him as from God's prophet. So even though Saul had been hostile to the prophet because of the message he carried — about the loss of the kingdom and God's curse that Saul had brought on himself by his rebellion — he had still honored and revered Samuel as God's prophet. In this man one could see opposite emotions crashing against each other like waves of the sea. On one side, Saul raged like a wild animal at the news that by divine decree he had fallen from royal dignity. On the other, he was held back as if by a bridle, compelled even against his will to submit to God's Word and obey it. But let us by this example learn not to be divided or false. What will happen to us if we imitate Saul? Let us instead conduct our lives with honesty and sincerity. For God cannot endure being worshiped only halfway — He will not tolerate what Scripture calls a heart and a heart.

The following detail — that Saul had driven out all the sorcerers and enchanters from the entire region — reflects well on him. God had declared such corruption of His worship to be an abomination and had expressly commanded that all diviners and enchanters be removed from the land. Women are particularly mentioned here because they tend to be especially prone to these practices. In the law, though men are sometimes named, all female enchanters and sorceresses are commanded to be put to death. But why does God specifically name that sex rather than men — when one might think their weakness should earn them more mercy, not harsher punishment? God willed it this way because as the vice grows worse, its punishments must also be proportionally heavier — whether the offender is male or female. So thieves are punished with lighter or severer penalties depending on the offense. And as offenses increase in gravity — blasphemies, adultery, fornication — so punishments must also increase, so that their weight may deter people from sinning. For this reason God expressly commanded that all sorceresses and enchanters be punished with capital punishment. This was God's general law: no form of divination was to go unpunished. Through such practices Satan mocks people — and such is the corruption of human nature that it neglects what is truly worth knowing and necessary, and turns all its eagerness to curious and useless pursuits, feeding the soul on empty speculations. Especially when some difficulty or worry troubles us, we cannot rest until we know what the outcome will be. When we undertake anything, we want to know how it will turn out. This gives Satan an easy opening to deceive people with vain illusions — because people give themselves willingly to curiosity. Yet the pretext was always plausible: sorcerers and diviners always invoke the name of revelation. And everyone persuades themselves that every revelation flows from God — so that those who have given themselves to sorcery think they have God's favor, are on familiar terms with Him, and are searching out the secrets of His counsel. So the wicked art of divination has always been covered with the respectable name of piety — when in fact its practitioners were serving demons while thinking they were seeking God's will. Therefore every form of divination is condemned by God's law. The law does not condemn it in a single sweeping statement — it enumerates the various kinds: it expressly forbids seeking knowledge of the future from the stars or other signs in the sky, from the dead, from omens. It forbids resorting to familiar spirits or inquiring from them about future events. God does this to cut off every excuse if the people ever sets its mind on such deceptions and illusions, and to teach them to be on guard against being corrupted by such crimes. God therefore did not merely forbid divination in general or witchcraft in general — He named specific varieties. Otherwise, if He had only spoken of one kind, people would have excepted the others, arguing that reading omens from birds was not forbidden, since birds are good creatures God made — and so surely He could send signs through them. Unless God had once for all closed off the handle for such curiosity, people would have permitted themselves anything in this area. The devil also continually lies in wait on another side and overwhelms the unwary with these illusions, because we have not learned to resist temptations by staying watchful. All the devil's tricks must therefore be guarded against — if we have escaped one, we must fear the next. Let us continually pray to God that, in His mercy, He would protect us, illuminate our minds in the thick darkness of this world by His Spirit and light, and furnish us with the wisdom and discernment to stand firm against any temptation whatsoever and never allow ourselves to be led from the right path.

The mention of a medium who works through a python spirit comes from the pagan world, among whom there was a kind of divination in which evil spirits entered into human bodies and gave out oracles. These practitioners were called Pythons. This kind of divination through Python-spirits was expressly forbidden to God's people by God in Deuteronomy 18, along with all other forms of divination. And lest the people complain that their situation was worse than the surrounding nations — who had their seers and diviners — God promised to give them something far better to be content with: besides the law, which was to be the firm and unmovable rule of their life, He would give them prophets, faithful interpreters of His will. For this reason God sharply rebukes the people in Isaiah for consulting Pythons and soothsayers who chirp and mutter, and for inquiring from the dead on behalf of the living. He commands them to consult the law of the Lord — for in it they have sufficiently clear testimony of God's will and all the direction they need for everything that matters for their salvation. God's purpose was to keep His people in the simplicity of His Word, in which — as the one true goal of wisdom — our salvation consists. Therefore all the divination practices of the nations were to be rejected, whatever outward benefit they might appear to offer. There is no doubt that this law retains its full force for Christians today — and that certain godless men who despise God's Word are to be firmly opposed. These are people who think it absurd to want to remove such sorcerers and diviners from society, as if God speaking through His prophets were mistaken in forbidding every kind of divination and fraud by which Satan deceives and bewitches human minds. Let us know, then, that the devil's deceptions and his hostility toward the human race must be guarded against with the utmost care. Since by nature he is a liar, he has a thousand tricks by which, having allured miserable people, he leads them from the right path. Whatever God's law forbids — let us flee it with all our strength, and recognize that we cannot be counted among God's people unless we are clean from all these corruptions. Since the Israelite people themselves, even after receiving God's law, were so prone to this vice, we must be all the more watchful in fleeing the devil's deceptions. We are no better than the Jews — if the devil so bewitched them as to make them despise such an express command of God and rush into the opposite vice, he will have far greater power to deceive and mislead us if we are not on guard. We must therefore stay within the bounds of God's Word, dwelling in His fear day and night, and resisting idle curiosity with all our strength — seeking to know nothing beyond what God Himself has wished us to know about future things. As for the governance of our souls, we have the law, the prophets, and the Gospel as a sure and unquestionable rule by which we are led to God. To these is added the exposition of God's Word, from which we can learn what is useful and necessary for us. As for civil life and the affairs of the community, we have the knowledge that the human sciences provide to guide us in what needs to be done. With all of this we must be content — taking the utmost care not to run loose like wild horses, prying too curiously into things that do not concern us. Yet this very vice is rampant today in many, even among leading men who keep soothsayers, diviners, and regular conjurers in their service. Since God has condemned this crime so severely as one of the gravest offenses, there is no doubt these men will in the end suffer God's most severe punishment for it. Let God alone suffice for both the living and the dead. Let Him be our one salvation and the one way to it.

Someone might object that Saul is punished more severely here than he seems to deserve — after all, since he had removed the diviners and enchanters from the land in obedience to God's command, shouldn't God at least show him mercy in return for his obedience? But notice: it is not enough to have begun well unless one perseveres to the end. Saul had made a good start in removing diviners and enchanters from Judah, but his zeal was short-lived. Almost immediately he turned back to the very mediums he had expelled — dividing his worship between God and an evil spirit. But we ought to walk the right path, never turning aside to the left or to the right.

Notice also this: even when good laws are established, people never observe them so well that some abuse does not persist. For example, Saul had forbidden all of Judah to resort to diviners or enchanters, and commanded sorcerers to be punished with death — so that the land would seem to have been purged of such wicked people. Yet his own ministers tell him there is a medium at Endor. Was it not the duty of the king's ministers to enforce the law diligently and bring offenders before the king? How then did these public servants, who should have upheld the law's authority, tolerate that sorceress? This is how those in authority commonly behave — turning a blind eye to such vices. Though with their mouths they profess to advance God's glory with all their might and to seek the welfare of the people, in practice they are found to be wearing a mask, looking the other way at obvious vices, wavering between two sides. This passage therefore warns all who hold governing authority: do not handle God's business with pretense and double-dealing, but administer everything with honest straightforwardness — lest they fall under the sentence of God's Spirit. Just as Saul's ministers are noted by the divine judgment here, so those of old will one day give account to God. Why are laws established, if not to be observed to the letter? To break and violate laws that have been established is the highest contempt of God. Those entrusted with the law should themselves be a law to those for whom no law has yet been set forth. If laws have been laid down for the preservation of the state or the region, they are worthless unless observed to the letter. The greatest disorder must inevitably come to states and kingdoms in which magistrates are not respected, or in which they wink at vices. And because these men use the name of God to cover their own moral failure, they will find that the very laws they have proclaimed will be turned against themselves. Nor do these things concern only judges and those in chief authority — they also apply to their ministers, and indeed to all citizens, who ought to know that God will not leave the abuse of His laws unavenged. Nor need we fear that judgments will ever be too severe when crimes must be repressed to which all people are naturally prone. So Saul is commended here by the Holy Spirit for expelling sorcerers and diviners — and condemned at the same time, along with his ministers, for tolerating the medium whose oracles many consulted, which could not have happened without the gravest wrongdoing, since people flocked to her with impunity.

That Saul inquired of the Lord was itself praiseworthy. But that God did not answer was a just punishment for the sins he had previously committed. Above all, consider these words: Saul looked at the Philistine camp and was terrified; his heart trembled greatly. He certainly should have feared — but not been paralyzed with terror. Why this distinction? Because this kind of paralyzing fear and trembling is God's just judgment on those who despise His Word: those who do not fear God will be terrified by people — indeed by their own shadow. Saul had risen up against God with a kind of insane arrogance and cruelty, seeming to butt his horns against heaven itself and wage war against God. Now therefore he must receive the reward of that arrogance — terror at the sight of his enemies. The faithful, I admit, are moved when dangers appear — they are not unfeeling. But God so moderates their fear that they rest in Him, fully persuaded that His help will never fail them, and so they place themselves and their affairs in His hands. This is how God softens the fear of His servants and provides in the midst of troubles and difficulties the highest reason for comfort and quiet, by hoping in God and trusting in Him. But the wicked, by contrast, tremble at the slightest noise — even the rustle of a leaf. They find no rest, and the fears hanging over their heads cannot be calmed — as if heaven itself were collapsing on them — and they dread what is in reality no threat. It is the special privilege of the children of God to have peace and tranquility of mind. As Paul says, this peace triumphs over every difficulty once all has been overcome. Paul therefore shows that a quiet and tranquil mind is the special gift of God when we flee to Him and place all our confidence in Him. Contumacy and rebellion against God, on the other hand, bring perpetual mental turmoil and inflict such enormous fear on the rebellious that, without any actual cause, as if driven by some stinging horsefly and stirred up by furies, they cannot rest. God sends objects of terror to meet them everywhere, so they can find no peace and no safety. For this reason God expressly threatens in the law that the wicked will have a trembling heart and will keep asking: 'Who will bring back tomorrow? Who will make the night pass?' Not without reason, therefore, was such great terror sent on Saul — for previously he had so freely and arrogantly thrown off God's yoke, with loose reins, permitting himself more than was lawful. And that God was now deaf to his prayers and gave him no answer — this he had brought upon himself by his own deeds.

As for the statement that God answered Saul neither by Urim nor by Thummim — this refers to the custom described in Numbers by which God was accustomed to reveal Himself through visions and dreams, along with prophetic words. The prophets' proper form of vision was through the Urim and Thummim — they could give an account of what they had seen, while others saw in dreams only what God chose to reveal. Saul therefore sought God and prayed for guidance — whether through a dream as had happened to others, or through prophecy — so that there can be no doubt he also consulted those who had the gift of prophecy, hoping to obtain some grace from the Lord. It appears that after Samuel's death, Saul summoned the prophets and also turned to the high priest — to which the word 'Urim' seems to point. But why, I ask, did God not hear him? He did not appear in dreams. Saul had hardened in his stubbornness and grown numb in his obstinacy. Why should God submit Himself to him? Why should He answer the one who had pursued David so long, so cruelly and ruthlessly, for no injury at all? Should God deign to fill that foul and rotten vessel with the grace of His Holy Spirit? That would have been too great a profanation of God's gifts. For this reason God hid His face from Saul, rejected him, and answered him neither through sleep nor through any other vision. As for Saul's apparent reverence for the prophets and especially for Samuel — it was pure pretense. Did he not chafe against Samuel when Samuel announced God's judgment to him? It is clear that Saul had long been biting against restraint, nursing his anger inwardly, and harboring malice — though outwardly he performed a kind of show of honor and reverence toward someone he could not openly despise. He was therefore unworthy that God should answer him through the prophets. He had plainly and deservedly fallen from God's grace — especially since he had stained his hands with that bloody massacre of the priests. The Urim was a distinctive stone set in the priestly garment, shining with a remarkable brilliance — as the very word indicates, meaning 'splendor.' This brightness of the stone was a sign of receiving prophetic revelation as circumstances required, with God Himself, as it were, flashing light in the darkness — He in whom alone all perfection and integrity dwell. It was the function of the priest to inquire by Urim and Thummim, since the high priest was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. This gift of revelation was also shared with other priests. But what a slaughter of priests Saul had carried out! Had he not defiled God's sanctuary and risen up against God Himself with the utmost arrogance and contempt? He had all but wiped out the entire priestly order — except for Abiathar, who escaped and through whose ministry God wished in some measure to sustain David. By destroying the priests and their saving counsel — in whom the guidance of the whole people was bound up — Saul had in effect tried to strip all the faithful of help in their difficulties. With what face, then, did that wicked man now seek counsel from God through the very prophets he had wanted slaughtered and destroyed by his most heinous crime? But this is how all who despise God behave: after they have given themselves over to every kind of wickedness, they are not ashamed to call on God's help in times of great need. And unless God responds according to their own expectations, they grow furious against the Lord and complain that there is no mercy with God. So today you may see many who are guilty of serious crimes and deserving of the harshest punishment — and yet if they confess the crime in words and weep a little, they expect to be considered as deserving of forgiveness on the spot, as if by that logic they think they are doing God a great injury if they are not immediately cleared of their guilt. From this passage we see with what shameless impudence... ...let us learn to approach God with all humility when we come to consult Him, to abstain from all cruelty and savagery, being firmly persuaded that His help will never fail us. We know the prophet's words are true: the Lord's ear has not grown deaf since ancient times. If God heard those who fled to Him in the past, let us not doubt that He will show Himself approachable and kind to those who call on Him rightly. His arm — that is, His strength and power — has not been weakened so that He cannot help those who flee to Him as He did before. Why then do our prayers so often seem empty and fruitless, and we seem to have fallen from our hope? Truly, our sins like iron bars shut off God's grace from us. Our iniquities create a divorce between God and us, casting as it were an immense chasm between us and Him. This is why God's mercy often does not reach us and His power does not lift us up. Let us therefore turn to God with genuine faith and repentance, which reconciles Him to us. It is certain that when we are struck with true sorrow for our sins, we will obtain mercy from God — provided we embrace His promises without doubting. Saul was in none of this disposition. He did not approach God with humility, repentance, and faith, and so he was rightly rejected by the Lord. In him was fulfilled God's threat spoken through the prophet: 'You will cry out, but you will not be heard in that day.' As long as Saul had honored the prophets and called on God, he experienced His help. But now, with the Lord's priests slaughtered, he received his reward. He wailed and bellowed like a bull — but received no help, and was unworthy of it, since he was not moved by genuine sorrow for his sins. It was therefore inevitable that he experience the curse of God that he had brought down on his own head, as we have seen before and will see again in much that follows.

Now then come, etc.

## HOMILIA XCIX.