1 Samuel 28:16

1Sa 28:16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

Ver. 16. Wherefore then dost thou ask of me?] Samuel himself could not have spoken more gravely, severely, divinely, than this fiend doth. {a} Well may lewd men be good preachers; well may hypocrites make a great flaunt; well, it may be, that in charms and spells there is nothing to be found but good words and good prayers; of which, nevertheless, one well saith, Si Magicae, Deus non vult tales: si piae, non per tales.

{a} Dr Hall.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:16 Saul’s enemy was not David but the Lord himself.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. Wherefore then dost thou ask of me] Was ever I wont to give answers that were not dictated by the Lord? It is his counsel alone that I communicate.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(16) Seeing the Lord is departed from thee.—In other words, If Jehovah have left thee, why comest thou to consult me, His servant and prophet? The Hebrew word here translated “enemy” is only found in Psa_139:20 and has been assumed to be an Aramaic form—ain for tsadde. There are, however, no other Aramaic forms in this book, which is written in pure “classical” Hebrew. The letter ain, or the first letter in the text here, through a very slight error of the copyist, could easily have been altered from tsadde, the first letter of the usual word for “enemy.” The LXX. and Vulg. Versions apparently had another reading before them, for they translate the last clause of the verse, “and is with thy neighbours.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Wherefore then, &c.] As if in such extremity I who am only God’s servant could do aught for thee.

is become thine enemy] The expression is startling, and it is almost certain that there is some corruption in the text. (a) The word for “enemy” is an Aramaic form, found elsewhere in Hebrew only in one or two doubtful instances. (b) The ancient versions point to some different reading. The Sept. gives “has turned to be with thy neighbour;” the Vulg. “has passed over to thy rival;” the Targ. “has become the help of a man who is thine enemy.” It seems best to follow the Sept. Comp. 1Sa_15:28; 1Sa_16:13-14.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou, ask of me,.... Whom thou knowest to have been a prophet of the Lord, and therefore can say nothing more or less than what comes from him, and is according to his will, if anything at all; the "devil" representing Samuel, whom Saul had called for, and reasons in such language as might be thought to be his own, though sometimes he betrays himself:

seeing the Lord is departed from thee; as Saul himself owned: to which he adds:

and is become thine enemy; to make his case appear still more desperate; for his whole view is to lead him to despair, which shows what sort of spirit he was: though some understand this as spoken of David, and read the words, and "he is with thine enemy" (i); is on his side, and favours his cause; so the Targum,"and he is for the help of a man, whose enmity thou sharest in;''or who is at enmity with thee, meaning David; but now the true Samuel would never have said this, or suggested it, that David was an enemy to Saul, for he was not.

(i) "et est cum inimico tuo", Pagninus, Vatablus; so V. L.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rival. How vain is it to expect that a prophet can give an answer when the Lord is silent! Hebrew, "is become thy enemy." (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

16. Wherefore then dost thou ask of me — It required no prophet from heaven to suggest this question to the God-forsaken king, and if we regard it as any thing more than another device of the woman to increase Saul’s terror and impose upon him, we involve ourselves in the absurdity of supposing that after Jehovah had in his law condemned all seeking unto necromancers, and after he had refused to answer the king by urim and by prophets, he nevertheless disturbed a holy prophet from his rest in heaven, and suffered him to rise from the dead, apparently as if forced up against his will by the arts of witchcraft!

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

torn the kingdom out of your hand

Samuel speaks as if the kingdom were a physical object that could be held in the hand and grabbed out by another person. AT: "made you so you are no longer king" or "made another person king in your place" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

Samuel

Yahweh

kingdom

hand

David

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

But why do you ask me. Since you have inquired of the living prophets.

And become your adversary. He has become the supporter of the one whose adversary you are.

Adversary. An expression meaning an enemy. In Scripture there are many [examples of the word עׇרֶךָ], "and the world will become full with enemies [עׇרִים]"; "and I will destroy your enemies [עׇרֶיךָ]"; "may this dream be upon your enemies and its interpretation upon your adversaries [לְעָרָךְ]";

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.