1 Samuel 28
Origen of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
1 Samuel 28:11
Is it not the case then, if such a great man was under the earth and the medium did bring him up, that a little demon has sway over the soul of the prophet? What can I say? These things are recorded. Is it true or is it not true? To say that it is not true drives us to unbelief. It comes down on the heads of those who speak it. But to say it is true presents for us an enquiry and quandary.And we well know that some among our brothers look askance at the Scripture and say, I do not believe in the medium. The medium says that she saw Samuel. She is lying! Samuel was not brought up. Samuel does not speak. Just as there are false prophets who say, "Thus says the Lord," and "The Lord did not speak," so too this little demon lies when it proclaims that it brings up the one pointed out by Saul. For, "whom shall I bring up?" He says, "Bring up Samuel for me." These things are said by those who state that this history is not true. — HOMILY ON 1 KINGS 28.2.2-3
1 Samuel 28:11
For what is it which has been written? "And the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you?" Whose expression is the one which says, "The woman said"? Is it the expression of the Holy Spirit, from whom the Scripture is believed to be recorded, or is it the expression of someone else? For the narrative expression, as those involved with all sorts of words also know, is above all the expression of the author. And the author for all of these words has not been believed to be a human, but the author is the Holy Spirit who moves humans. — HOMILY ON 1 KINGS 28.4.2
1 Samuel 28:13
They [the Jews] reflected on the death of Abraham and the prophets, understanding that Samuel, too, when he was under the earth because of death, was brought up by a medium who thought the gods were somewhere below the earth and who said, "I saw gods ascending from the earth." They had not, however, comprehended the life of Abraham and the prophets, nor that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was not the God of them as men who were dead, but as men who were alive. — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.393
1 Samuel 28:13
Samuel in hades! Samuel, he who was special among the prophets, who was dedicated to God from his birth, who before his birth is said to be in the temple, who at the same time he was weaned was clothed with the ephod and double cloak and became a priest of the Lord, the child to whom the Lord when he speaks uttered his messages, he was brought up by a medium?… Why is Samuel in hades?…Samuel comes up, and note that she does not say that she saw the soul of Samuel. She does not say she saw a man. She has been scared by this thing which she saw. What did she see? "I saw gods," she says, "coming up from the earth." And perhaps Samuel has not only come up in order just to prophesy to Saul, but it is likely, just as here "with the holy he will be holy, and with an innocent man he will be innocent," and with the one of the chosen he will be as one of the chosen, and here the ways of the holy are with the holy but not with the sinners. And if then at some point the way of life of the holy is with the sinners for the purpose of saving the sinners, so perhaps also you may speculate whether either the holy souls of the other prophets in the coming up of Samuel come up together or perhaps whether they were angels of their spirits—the prophet says, "the angel who speaks in me"—or whether they were angels who came up together with the spirits. And every [place] is filled with those who need salvation, and "are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?" Why do you fear to say that every place has need of Jesus Christ? Those who have need of Christ have need of the prophets. But if he has no need of Christ, he has no need of those who prepare for the appearance and dwelling of Christ. — HOMILY ON 1 KINGS 28.3.2, 7.1
1 Samuel 28:15
If the prophets, the forerunners of Christ, all went down into hades before the Christ, so too Samuel has gone down there. For he does not merely go down, but he goes down as a holy man. Wherever the holy man may be, he is holy. Is Christ no longer Christ, since he was once in hades? Was he no longer Son of God, since he existed in an underworld place, "that every knee should bow in the name of Jesus Christ in heaven and on earth and under the earth"? So, Christ was Christ even when he was below; that is to say, while he was in the place below, he was above in purpose. So too, the prophets and Samuel, even if they go down below where the souls are, they are able to be in a place below, but they are not below in purpose. — HOMILY ON 1 KINGS 28.8.1
1 Samuel 28:17-19
Is a little demon capable of prophesying concerning the entire people of God that the Lord is about to deliver Israel?…Can also a little demon know this, that after a king has been appointed with the anointing oil of a prophet, that tomorrow Saul and his sons with him will forfeit their lives?… But I cannot give to a little demon such a great power that he can prophesy concerning Saul and the people of God and he can prophesy concerning David that he will become king. — HOMILIES ON 1 KINGS 5.5, 5.8