Saul sees the Philistine army and is filled with fear.

He seeks guidance from God but receives no answer through dreams, the Urim, or prophets.

Although Saul himself had removed mediums and spiritists from the land, he now orders his servants to find a woman who practices as a medium.

Disguised and traveling at night, Saul goes to a woman at Endor.

She initially fears that the request is a trap because such practices are forbidden. Saul swears that she will not be punished.

He asks her to bring up Samuel.

The woman reacts with alarm when the figure appears, and Saul understands the figure to be Samuel.

The message offers no comfort. Saul is reminded that the kingdom has been torn from him because of his disobedience and that Israel will be defeated by the Philistines.

Saul collapses, exhausted and terrified. The woman and his servants persuade him to eat before he leaves.

He returns into the night toward the battle in which he and his sons will die. The story is less a guide to the supernatural than the final portrait of a king who has become cut off from the prophetic guidance he repeatedly resisted while Samuel was alive.