Demons have the demonstrated capability of pretending convincingly to be anyone. Saul knew/perceived/supposed/presumed/expected/hoped this was Samuel, but I’ve always been skeptical, particularly considering the scarcity of similar events recorded in Scripture.
“Demons have the demonstrated capability of pretending convincingly to be anyone. Saul knew/perceived/supposed/presumed/expected/hoped this was Samuel, but I’ve always been skeptical, particularly considering the scarcity of similar events recorded in Scripture.”
Yes, especially considering the way the scripture is worded:
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”
The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure coming up out of the earth. 14 An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said.
Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
Saul didn’t see the spirit—the woman did. The woman supernaturally knew he was Saul—showing the influence of the spirit in question.
What is the state of saints in the Old Testament after their deaths? Let’s look at Daniel:
Daniel 12:13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”
What does Hebrews 11 say?
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
So Samuel hasn’t yet received the promise. He was likely resting like Daniel and like the saints in Revelation 6:
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been.
So that’s one argument for it not being Samuel. Here’s another:
1 Samuel 28:1 Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”
“There is one in Endor,” they said.
So we know for sure the woman had a familiar spirit with whom she could communicate. What’s to stop this spirit from lying? Wicked spirits are expelled from heaven; how could it bring Samuel’s spirit from heaven? It lacks the power and authority to do so.
But it could lie and tell what it knew about God’s plans—that Saul would die the next day.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first
Elijah's appearance symbolized these:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
I hope these words are comforting :)