What Does 1 Samuel 28:7 Mean?
Then Saul said to his servants, Seek for me a woman who speaks out of the ground, that I may go to her and seek from her. And his servants said to him, Look, there is a woman who speaks out of the ground at En-dor.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor.THE KEY
The verse shifts from searching out a medium to resorting to her for counsel, revealing that the source you choose shapes the answer you can reach.
THE MEANING
The verse shows your search for an answer turning into a search for a channel: you first look for a medium, then go to her to inquire. When an answer feels inaccessible, the channel you choose matters as much as the question you ask.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the belief that a voice is trustworthy simply because it reaches what ordinary means cannot.
THE ROOT
אֶדְרְשָׁה
ʾedresha
GROWS FROM
דרש
To seek, inquire, or resort to someone for counsel.
“seek from her” in this verse is ʾedresha. The Hebrew verb for Saul’s inquiry is דרש (darash), a sustained seeking or resorting to a source. Isaiah 8:19 uses this same root both for seeking mediums and for seeking God, so the verb itself does not decide the direction; the one consulted does.
ALSO GROWS
doresh: One who seeks or inquires.
דּוֹרֵשׁ
This branch makes the inquirer an active seeker: the verse shows Saul choosing whom he will consult.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition; interpretive seeking.
מִדְרָשׁ
The same root can describe a search for meaning, showing that darash is a pursuit of counsel, not merely the posing of a question.
בַּקְּשׁוּ
baqshu
GROWS FROM
בקש
To seek, request, or look for something desired.
“Seek” in this verse is baqshu. The Hebrew distinguishes finding a woman from consulting her: Saul first uses בקש (baqash) to have his servants locate a medium, then דרש (darash) for the inquiry he intends to make. The search for a channel comes before the search for an answer.
ALSO GROWS
baqqashah: A request or petition.
בַּקָּשָׁה
This branch shows the seeking as a deliberate request: Saul directs his servants to find the person he wants.
mevuqqash: Sought after or desired.
מְבֻקָּשׁ
The sought-after person is not incidental; Saul specifically seeks a medium as the route to the answer.
THE PATTERN
The pursuit of hidden counsel turns on its source, because seeking a medium and seeking God direct the inquiry toward different voices.
Do not turn your faces to those who speak from the pit, nor seek the ones who know, to be soiled by them; I am the LORD your God.And when they say to you, Seek to those who have familiar spirits, and to the knowers who chirp and moan, should not a people seek to their God? For the living, to the dead?And as we went toward prayer, a servant girl held by a breath of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by divining.THE THREAD
And when they say to you, Seek to those who have familiar spirits, and to the knowers who chirp and moan, should not a people seek to their God? For the living, to the dead?Isaiah repeats דרש (darash), the root behind Saul’s “enquire,” for seeking both mediums and God. The root holds the shared act of inquiry; its object reveals the direction of the search.
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