Day 14

 

The UFO

 

The King said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?" The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground."

 

1 Samuel 28:13

 

 

We stared up into the night sky and there it was , a UFO. I say it was a UFO because it was an object, it was flying and we couldn't identify it. It wasn't swamp gas, we weren't in a swamp but camping near a river. It wasn't a weather balloon because it was shaped like a saucer. It wasn't lights on an airplane or a blimp because it didn't have any lights. It was a saucer shaped thing that hovered above our heads and there was a whistling sound emanating from it.

 

It was actually the sound that first attracted us. There were four of us guys on a canoe trip out gathering some firewood after dark. We were walking along, our way lit by an old flashlight that only worked if you shook it and held it just right, when we heard the whistling sound above us. We looked up and there a saucer was hovering overhead. We weren't sure how big it was or high it was above us because the flash light only worked a few seconds at a time and there was nothing to give us perspective. We stared at it for the longest time but it never moved so eventually we went back to collecting firewood. We went to sleep that night wondering what it could possibly be.

 

The next morning it was still there. It was still hovering, making that sound. Actually it wasn't hovering, it was hanging. It was a saucer shaped metal reflector hanging from a power line. The sound came from the wind passing through holes in the rim of the saucer. I guess it was  hung from the power line so that any small airplane that might try to fly low over the river could more easily see the power line.

 

Your eyes can deceive you. None of us thought aliens had come to earth just to observe our canoe trip but that night we had no idea what it was. At night it looked eerie and creepy but in the light of day it was harmless.

 

In 1 Samuel 28 King Saul goes to consult a medium known as the witch of Endor. Being involved in the occult was strictly forbidden in Jewish law but Saul ignored that because he was afraid of a Philistine army he was facing. He tried to get direction from God but received no help. He could have repented of his sins and pleaded with God for direction but instead he turned to this witch  and asked that she bring up the ghost of the prophet Samuel for him to talk to.

 

So the witch of Endor does her thing and she sees a spirit rising up out of the ground. Saul asks her, "What does he look like?"

 

She tells him, "An old man wearing a robe."

 

Saul knows (or perhaps just believes) it is Samuel and asks the apparition what he should do.

 

What is going on here? Was it really Samuel and could this witch actually be in contact with the dead? I believe the answer to that is not good for either Saul or the witch.

 

First of all she see "an old man wearing a robe." That could be a description of some old dude in a nursing home, not necessarily Samuel. Secondly, I don't care if this lady was the witch of Endor or the Wicked Witch of the West, she doesn't have the authority to summon up one of God's saints from the dead. Of course God could have sent Samuel to deliver a message and the witch, being a complete phony, would have been as shocked and scared as Saul.

 

So, if she is not a complete fraud, what can this witchy woman do? She can be in touch with Satan and be his willing or unwitting accomplice. And Satan can provide her with a demon that looks enough like Samuel to terrify an already scared Saul. As for the prediction of the future the apparition makes it is something that any astute observer of the times could have come up with. The prediction was that Saul would lose his kingdom to someone else, which a lot of people (particularly those who followed David) already knew. Also it was predicted Saul would lose his battle with the Philistines. That didn't require any great insight because Saul, the Israelite commander, was going to start the battle terrified. He was bound to lose.

 

Sometimes what we see, or think we see, is not what is really there. You might see the ghost of your granny, the Blair Witch, Harvey the giant rabbit or a UFO, but that doesn't mean that is what is really there.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Samuel 28:3-25

 

• What had Saul done with the mediums and spiritists?
• Did Saul's actions show that he knew consulting a medium was wrong?
• What kind of emotional shape was Saul in before he saw the medium? (v.5)
• What kind of emotional shape was Saul in after he saw the medium? (v. 20)
• Did Saul gain anything by talking to the medium?