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1 Samuel 28 · a question people ask

1 Samuel says Saul inquired of the LORD. Chronicles says he didn't. Which is it?

In the text

Here are both, word for word. "When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets" (28:6). Chronicles, telling why Saul died, says it was "because of the LORD’s word, which he didn’t keep, and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire" (1 Chronicles 10:13), "and didn’t inquire of the LORD" (1 Chronicles 10:14). In Hebrew the two books use two verbs. 1 Samuel 28:6's inquired is sha'al (tap inquired), the verb of Chronicles' asked counsel of the familiar spirit. Chronicles' didn't inquire of the LORD is darash, as is its to inquire of the familiar spirit just before (1 Chronicles 10:13), the verb of Saul's words at 28:7, "that I may go to her and inquire of her" (tap inquire). The two books don't explain how the verbs fit together, and this answer doesn't go past them.

The verses

“When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.””
1 Samuel 28:6-7 · World English Bible
“So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the LORD’s word, which he didn’t keep, and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire, and didn’t inquire of the LORD. Therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.”
1 Chronicles 10:13-14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 28

1 Samuel 28: The LORD didn't answer

Saul had sent those with familiar spirits out of the land himself (28:3), and when the LORD didn't answer him (28:6) he went to one by night. What he heard about the kingdom was nothing new: "The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me" (28:17). The kingdom was torn from him and given to his neighbor, as in 15:28, and now the neighbor is named: David.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions