1 Samuel 28:6

My Notes

What Does 1 Samuel 28:6 Mean?

1 Samuel 28:6 describes the most terrifying thing that can happen to a person who seeks God: silence. Complete, multi-channel silence. Every door closed. Every line dead.

"And when Saul enquired of the LORD" — the Hebrew vayyish'al Sha'ul baYahweh (and Saul inquired of the LORD) uses sha'al — to ask, inquire, seek an answer. The irony is bitter: Saul's name (Sha'ul) comes from the same root as the word for asking. The man whose name means "asked for" is now asking and getting nothing.

"The LORD answered him not" — the Hebrew vĕlo' 'anahu Yahweh (and the LORD did not answer him) is absolute. No response. No word. No sign. The silence is God's.

"Neither by dreams" — the first channel: visions in sleep. God communicated through dreams throughout the Old Testament (Genesis 20:3, 28:12, 31:10-13, Numbers 12:6). Saul receives none.

"Nor by Urim" — the second channel: the priestly oracle. The Urim (and Thummim) were sacred lots kept in the high priest's breastplate, used for yes/no divine guidance (Exodus 28:30, Numbers 27:21). But Saul has massacred the priests of Nob (22:16-19) — he killed the very people who operated the Urim. He destroyed his own means of inquiry.

"Nor by prophets" — the third channel: prophetic word. Samuel, the prophet who guided Saul's entire reign, is dead (25:1). And Saul has spent years alienating every other voice that might have spoken God's word to him.

The three channels represent every possible mode of divine communication: internal (dreams), institutional (Urim), and personal (prophets). All three are closed. The silence is comprehensive. And the reason isn't mysterious: Saul systematically destroyed his access to God. He killed the priests. He alienated the prophets. He lived in such sustained disobedience that even dreams stopped coming. The silence isn't God being arbitrary. It's the natural consequence of a man who spent decades cutting every wire that connected him to the switchboard.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Saul killed the priests, ignored the prophet, and lost dreams — he destroyed his own channels to God. What 'wires' in your spiritual life might you be cutting without realizing it?
• 2.Three channels, all silent. When has God's silence in your life felt total? Was it arbitrary, or were there connections you'd neglected?
• 3.Saul's response to silence was to visit a medium — an illegitimate channel. When God feels silent, what illegitimate sources of guidance are you tempted to turn to?
• 4.The silence was the consequence of sustained disobedience, not a single failure. How does understanding divine silence as accumulated consequence change how you respond to it?

Devotional

Dreams: nothing. Urim: nothing. Prophets: nothing. Three channels. Total silence.

Saul asks God and gets nothing back. And the emptiness of the response is the loudest thing in the chapter. Because it's not that God was busy. It's that Saul had systematically destroyed every means of communication — and now, in his most desperate hour, he's trying to use lines he already cut.

The priests who operated the Urim? Saul massacred them at Nob (chapter 22) — eighty-five men killed because one of them helped David. The prophet Samuel? Dead (25:1) — and Saul had spent years ignoring his counsel before that. Dreams? God gives those to people He's in relationship with. Saul hasn't been in relationship with God for a very long time.

The silence isn't punishment from a God who enjoys watching Saul suffer. It's the echo in a room that Saul emptied himself. He killed the priests, so the Urim is gone. He ignored the prophet, so prophecy is gone. He lived in disobedience so sustained that the dream-line went dead. The silence is the sound of consequences. You can't cut every wire and then complain that the phone doesn't ring.

What Saul does next is the measure of his desperation — and his complete moral collapse. He goes to the witch of Endor (v. 7). The man who can't reach God through legitimate channels tries the illegitimate ones. The man who banned mediums from Israel (v. 3) now disguises himself and visits one. The descent from silence to sorcery is terrifyingly short.

If God feels silent in your life, this verse asks a hard question: is the silence arbitrary, or have you been cutting wires? Have you alienated the people who speak truth to you? Have you neglected the practices that keep the channels open? The silence might not be God ignoring you. It might be the echo of doors you closed yourself.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture