1 Samuel 28

Saul’s Spiritual Darkness

Perhaps the lowest point in Saul’s life is recorded in 1 Samuel 28. Because Saul could not get any revelation from God concerning how he should lead Israel, he went to a witch to see if he could get some help from spiritualists, or those who seek to contact the spirits of the dead for advice and counsel. In chapter 28, the witch claimed to have brought forward the prophet Samuel from the dead. President Joseph Fielding Smith said that it should be obvious that dead prophets do not respond to the call of witches and that the entire event was under the influence of the devil, who certainly must have been pleased with what had occurred in Saul’s life (see Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [1957–66], 109).