Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Have you ever read a passage in the Bible and thought, what did I just read?

Like, was that really in the Bible? Today's passage is one of those for me. In chapter 28 of

1 Samuel, we're going to see Saul, the king of Israel, face uncertainty. And in his fear of the

unknown, he's going to turn to a medium, a witch for answers. And he's going to be successful in finding them. And since we know that,

yes, this is really in the Bible right here in chapter 28, it might lead you to other questions.

Like, does the Bible condone what's going on here? How is this medium successful? I thought that that was like all

fake. Isn't God the only God, the one with the power to raise the dead? Well, let's take a look

at the full story and move our way through chapter 28 of 1st Samuel and see if we can't find

our answers. Now, the passage opens up with two

reminders. Samuel, the prophet, is dead, and Saul has banished all mediums and spiritists

from the land. So right off the bat, despite a lack of explicit condemnation of Saul's actions in the text

for the rest of the chapter, we do get our answer to our first question. The Bible is not

condoning Saul's use of a medium. See, Saul has previously rid the land of mediums. He does that

in accordance with God's commands for his people.

Clarity can be found when we look to the places of Scripture where God reveals his character,

his law, given through Moses for the people of God, and it says this,

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices

divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or cast spells, or who is a medium

or a spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the

Lord because of the same detestable practices,

the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. So Saul, being the one who

...