1 Samuel 27-28: Witchcraft

I didn't see that coming.  1 Samuel 28 went off the rails a bit, in the sense that the supernatural realm was let in to a degree not really seen much to this point in Scripture.  Saul's been descending into evil little by little as each chapter proceeds, but we see that he is almost now in league with Satan himself.  God long ago left Saul to his own devices (since it was Saul's choice to follow Saul's will and not God's).  When Saul does have fits of paranoia and vexation (as is happening more frequently now that he is no longer close to God), he tries to appeal to God but gets no answer.  So, his fear being at an all-time high because of a growing Philistine threat, he turns instead to the evil one.  He tracks down a witch and demands an answer from anyone (or anything) to his question of what to do next.  This is madness.  Saul has essentially welcomed in pure evil, consulted with that which is out-rightly forbidden by the Law, has turned his back on God in the most egregious manner.  I was not expecting to see witchcraft, necromancy, and the occult so front and center in the middle of Scripture, but there it is.  And what's more startling is that the witch's "art" works (sort of).  There is disagreement over whether or not it is the witch who summons Samuel, and over whether or not it truly is Samuel.  One interpretation is that the witch does indeed summon a spirit but that it is an evil being posing as Samuel.  The problem with that interpretation is that the words of this spirit ring true.  Samuel correctly predicts the fate of Saul and he speaks of Saul with a disapproving tone.  The interpretation that makes more sense is that God used the situation (unholy as it was), to have Samuel's actual spirit appear and deliver an actual prophecy to Saul.  What validates this interpretation is the behavior of the witch, who cries out in fear when Samuel appears.  She who dabbles in dark arts all the time, is greatly troubled by what occurs.  And again, everything Samuel says appears true and accurate and foretells of Saul's troubles and doomed fate and how he has offended God.  Any power of a supernatural and evil origin that a man or woman may possess is always subordinate to God's Power -- that's what 1 Samuel 28 shows.  It's a disturbing chapter because we don't often like to think that people can tap into the evil realm beyond.  But it's comforting at the same time in that it shows there is a greater realm of good that will always overcome any evil in the end.