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Library > Commentaries > John Gill's Exposition of the Bible > 28 > 1 Samuel 28:16
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1 Samuel 28:16

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" F9; 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Kre yhyw) "et est cum inimico tuo", Pagninus, Vatablus; so V. L.