"And he said to her, 'What is his form?' And she said, 'An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.' Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself." — 1 Samuel 28:14

One of the most iconic passages in the Holy Bible is the account where the prophet Samuel supposedly appears to speak with King Saul. Saul had strayed from the right path, and consequently, God no longer spoke to him. Desperate because God had ceased communicating with him—and finding himself in the midst of a war—Saul sought out a medium to summon Samuel's spirit. Samuel was one of the major prophets of the Old Testament.

The primary evidence that it was not Samuel himself, but rather an evil spirit, is that the prophecy spoken by the spirit did not come to pass. In 1 Samuel 28:19, the spirit predicted that Saul would be delivered into the hands of the Philistines, implying that he would be killed by them. However, the biblical text states in 1 Samuel 31:4 that Saul committed suicide during the battle; he was not killed by the Philistines.

It is certain that the figure was not Samuel. As for Saul, what he should have done was repent of his rebellion. He needed to ask God for forgiveness and cry out for His mercy. God had given him many opportunities to repent, yet—unfortunately—he chose to follow the desires of his own heart. May we choose a different path and surrender our lives to God.