Introduction: Shaul on the Eve of His Final Day
Chapter 28 is one of the most difficult and mysterious chapters in Sefer Shmuel. The Pelishtim gather their camps for war, Shaul sees the camp of the Pelishtim and his heart trembles greatly. He inquires of Hashem and receives no answer, not through dreams, not through the Urim, and not through prophets. Out of his distress he seeks out a woman who is a master of ov, disguises himself, and comes to her by night in Ein Dor. The woman recognizes him and cries out in a loud voice: "לָמָּה רִמִּיתָנִי וְאַתָּה שָׁאוּל" (Why have you deceived me, for you are Shaul). From here begins the dialogue into which the Malbim enters with great depth, and with which we will occupy ourselves.
"אַל תִּירְאִי" - Shaul Reassures the Woman
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ הַמֶּלֶךְ אַל תִּירְאִי כִּי מָה רָאִית, וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה אֶל שָׁאוּל אֱלֹהִים רָאִיתִי עֹלִים מִן הָאָרֶץ. - And the king said to her, Do not fear, but what did you see? And the woman said to Shaul, I saw a godlike being coming up out of the earth.
He immediately reassures her: you have nothing to fear, I have not come to kill you and I will not put you to death. All I ask is that you tell me what you saw. And she answers: "אֱלֹהִים רָאִיתִי עֹלִים מִן הָאָרֶץ" (I saw a godlike being coming up out of the earth). What exactly she saw will become clear in the following pesukim.
The Malbim's Question: How Can a Woman Control the Soul of the Prophet Through Her Sorcery?
Here the Malbim asks a tremendous question, and in his words: "all people of understanding have wondered" - how can a woman, through her sorcery, control the soul of the prophet, bringing it down from the bond of life by means of magic, and know the future through the power of witchcraft? Let us picture the scene: the prophet sits in the treasuries on high, in the heavenly academy, enjoying the radiance of the Shechinah and engaged in Torah, and suddenly someone below whistles to him, "Come, come," and brings him down. Can every leper and every zav call to the prophet and bring him down from his place? This is inconceivable. Says the Malbim: the commentators have elaborated on this at great length, and we will bring the various approaches, and finally his own explanation, which is the most reasonable and fits both the plain meaning of the verses and the teachings of Chazal.
The Approaches of the Commentators
The first explanation is in the name of the Gaon Rabbi Shmuel ben Chofni: the entire act of ov was words of falsehood and mockery, complete lies, things that never happened at all. And so too holds the Rambam: there is no such thing as ov, there is no yidoni, there is no consulting the dead. All that the Torah forbade was the performing of these actions, but do not think that these actions are effective at all. So the Rambam writes explicitly.
The Ralbag explains that the form of the act of raising up the ov was among the acts of the imagination: the master of ov had the power to create in the mind of the inquirer an image, so that he would think that his relative was coming up and speaking with him, but all of this was merely a power of imagination.
Regarding these two explanations the Malbim says: "these two explanations cannot contain the verses" - they do not fit with the language of the text. For from the plain meaning of the pesukim it appears that there was a genuine inquiry here, that Shaul truly spoke with Shmuel, and that there was a real dialogue. Therefore these two explanations are not the plain meaning of the text.
Rav Saadia Gaon and Rav Hai Gaon explain in a way that comes closer to the text: the woman did not revive Shmuel, but rather the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself revived him, so that Shaul would know the future that was to come upon him. By this the difficulty is reduced: there is no power in the world by which every leper and every zav could come and whistle to the prophet and bring him down. Rather, here, since Shaul so greatly wanted to know what was about to happen, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself told Shmuel that He was summoning him to answer Shaul. But the Malbim has a difficulty with this: if it is Hashem who wants to answer Shaul, why did He not answer him through the Urim and through the prophets? If He wishes to answer, let Him answer through the proper channels. Therefore it is difficult to explain that there was here a summoning by the Holy One, blessed be He.
The Abarbanel explains that a demon here clothed itself in the body of Shmuel. What you read in the pesukim as "Shmuel" speaking is the body of Shmuel, but a demon clothed itself within it. This was not the soul of Shmuel in the treasuries of heaven, but a demon in disguise. As if to say: Shaul, do you think only you know how to disguise yourself? "Shmuel" too knows how to disguise himself, and a demon came in the costume of Shmuel.
The author of the Akeidat Yitzchak explains that although she began the act, Shmuel afterward roused himself on his own, and not through the compulsion of the ov. Here too the gain is the same gain: she had no power to bring him down, but since she began the act, he for his part said, I am willing to come down, and through this they brought him down.
The Malbim's explanation: a genuine act of ov, but upon which soul?
Here the Malbim moves to his own explanation: why do we need all these enormous forced readings? After all, Chazal in the Talmud describe for us an act of ov that was accepted in their times. People would go to the master of the ov, and he would reveal the future, bring down the soul, and they would speak with it. These are explicit matters, and we know that they truly had the power to raise the dead from their graves. Chazal even detail the manner of its working: the one who raises the dead from the grave, the master of the ov, is the one who sees him, and the questioner is the one who hears him. That is: I raise, I see, and you hear. I do not hear the things being said to you, and so the message is confidential: I only raise and see who he is, while you hear the message. And Chazal further say: if the one questioned is a commoner, the dead rises with his head downward, and if the questioner is a king, he rises with his head upward. Therefore here, because Shaul was a king, he rose with his head upward. We see that the Gemara knew this matter in its details, and ov is a reality that operates, so why should we seek far fetched interpretations?
Yet a question still arises: how does such a thing act upon the soul of a prophet, a soul so great and mighty, that any lowly person, any leper, any zav, could summon it whenever he wished? The Malbim explains: know that there are two aspects to a person's soul. There is the neshamah, whose place is beneath the Throne of Glory, and the moment a person passes away it immediately ascends and returns to its lofty place. And there is an additional soul, which in the language of the Mekubalim is called "kista dechayuta" or "havla degarmei," and which the Malbim calls the hylic soul, that is, the basic primal soul, the fundamental functioning of the body. To the spiritual neshamah that enjoys the radiance of the Shechinah above the master of the ov has no access whatsoever, and that she certainly did not bring down. Whom did she bring down? That lower soul, that kista dechayuta, that havla degarmei, which remains here all twelve months. This is why the Gemara says that the thing is possible within twelve months: during that time she has the power to rule over this soul, which is on a low level, to call it, to hear from it things destined to happen, and to communicate with it.
"אִישׁ זָקֵן עֹלֶה וְהוּא עֹטֶה מְעִיל" - two ascended
וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַה תָּאֳרוֹ, וַתֹּאמֶר אִישׁ זָקֵן עֹלֶה וְהוּא עֹטֶה מְעִיל, וַיֵּדַע שָׁאוּל כִּי שְׁמוּאֵל הוּא וַיִּקֹּד אַפַּיִם אַרְצָה וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ. - And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe. And Shaul knew that it was Shmuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.
Shaul asks her how he looks, in order to confirm that she had indeed raised Shmuel. And she answers that she saw two, and not one. When she saw the soul ascending, she saw that attached to it was something additional, and what was it? The spirit of Moshe Rabbeinu. For every prophet contains a part of Moshe, "the extension of Moshe in every generation," and in every Torah scholar there is something of Moshe Rabbeinu. And when she perceived this, the thing took form in her eyes as the image of two, when in truth only Shmuel had arrived.
Accordingly the pasuk is explained: "אִישׁ זָקֵן עֹלֶה" (An old man is coming up), this is Moshe Rabbeinu, who was one hundred and twenty years old. For Shmuel was fifty two years old at his death, so what is the meaning of "an old man"? Rather, the old man is Moshe. "וְהוּא עֹטֶה מְעִיל" (and he is wrapped in a robe), this refers back to the one you requested, to Shmuel, who was wrapped in a robe. And from where did Shmuel have a robe? From what his mother made for him, for when she brought him to Eli she brought him a robe, and that robe kept growing along with him. And since Shaul heard that the one ascending was wrapped in a robe, for such was Shmuel's manner of going about, he knew that it was Shmuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.
"לָמָּה הִרְגַּזְתַּנִי" - Shaul's three complaints
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל אֶל שָׁאוּל לָמָּה הִרְגַּזְתַּנִי לְהַעֲלוֹת אֹתִי, וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל צַר לִי מְאֹד וּפְלִשְׁתִּים נִלְחָמִים בִּי וֵאלֹהִים סָר מֵעָלַי וְלֹא עָנָנִי עוֹד גַּם בְּיַד הַנְּבִיאִים גַּם בַּחֲלֹמוֹת, וָאֶקְרָאֶה לְךָ לְהוֹדִיעֵנִי מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה. - And Shmuel said to Shaul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Shaul said, I am in great distress, for the Pelishtim are making war against me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me, neither by the hand of the prophets nor by dreams, so I called to you to make known to me what I should do.
The Malbim explains that in truth it was not Shaul's intention to inquire of the ov himself, for that is a severe prohibition. His entire wish was that she inquire of the ov on his behalf, and that he would only communicate through her, and as we saw in the words of Chazal, the master of the ov is the one who sees and the questioner is the one who hears. But when Shmuel was revealed, Shaul bowed before him, and Shmuel began to speak with him directly, and since that was so, Shaul answered him, and it turned out that Shaul himself was drawn into inquiring of the ov. But the original plan was otherwise.
Shaul responds with three claims. The first: "פְּלִשְׁתִּים נִלְחָמִים בִּי" (the Philistines are waging war against me). The second: "וֵאלֹהִים סָר מֵעָלַי" (and God has turned away from me). When Shaul began to reign it says "and the spirit of Hashem came upon him", meaning a spirit of might, of power, of dominion. It is no simple matter for an anonymous man to become ruler over an entire nation: this requires the spirit of Hashem, a spirit of might, of dominion, of the ability to lead. And Shaul says: I felt that this spirit has departed from me, it no longer accompanies me. The third: "וְלֹא עָנָנִי עוֹד" (and He no longer answers me). The very fact that I receive no answer is a bad sign, a harbinger of evil to come. And therefore: "וָאֶקְרָאֶה לְךָ לְהוֹדִיעֵנִי מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה" (so I called upon you to let me know what I should do).
Why he did not mention the Urim
Here Shaul lists what he had inquired about, and does not mention the Urim, even though it was said above that he inquired through the Urim as well. Chazal say: even though he inquired through them, he was ashamed before Shmuel because he had killed Nov, the city of the priests. Had he said "Hashem did not answer me even through the Urim", Shmuel would have replied: and are you not ashamed? You ask that the Urim answer you after you killed the priests of Hashem, who were the ones through whom one inquires by the Urim and Tumim? And because he was ashamed before him, and knew that this sin was on him, he did not mention the matter.
The change of order: prophets before dreams
The Malbim points out another remarkable thing. In verse six it says that he inquired "גַּם בַּחֲלֹמוֹת גַּם בָּאוּרִים גַּם בַּנְּבִיאִם" - first dreams and then prophets. And here he says "גַּם בְּיַד הַנְּבִיאִים גַּם בַּחֲלֹמוֹת" - first prophets and then dreams. Why did he change the order? As we explained there, Shaul did not act properly: if you come to inquire of Hashem, first inquire through the prophets, through the one closest to Hashem, and if that does not help, move on to the more distant means. But Shaul inquired first through dreams, then through the Urim, then through the prophets, because in truth he did not want to seek out Hashem. And this is the accusation against him, that he did not truly seek out Hashem. And the Malbim asked: but it is written that he did seek Him out? Rather, he only requested: if I can receive information without any obligation, I prefer it that way. If someone dreams a dream and tells it to me, wonderful, without having to come and directly ask the Creator of the world, for he felt that there was a break between himself and the Creator of the world, and he felt that he had not acted properly. And therefore he is ashamed before Shmuel, and reverses the order: "also through the prophets, also through dreams" - he is ashamed to admit that he first inquired through dreams and only afterward through the prophets.
"וַיְהִי עָרֶךָ" - Hashem is with your enemy
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל וְלָמָּה תִּשְׁאָלֵנִי, וַיהוָה סָר מֵעָלֶיךָ וַיְהִי עָרֶךָ. - And Shmuel said: Why then do you ask me, when Hashem has turned away from you and has become your adversary?
Shmuel says to him: You inquired of the prophets who are still alive, and received no answer from them, so why do you continue to ask me? You see that Hashem has turned away from you. If Hashem were interested in maintaining a connection with you, He has living prophets, and if He does not inform you through them, apparently He is not interested in being in contact with you.
"סָר מֵעָלֶיךָ" (has turned away from you) - as you yourself said, that the spirit of holiness and kingship no longer accompanies you. And what is "וַיְהִי עָרֶךָ"? "Ar" means enemy, as Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar "chalma leshanach ufishrah le'arach" - the dream to your foes and its interpretation to your enemies. And Yonatan translates: "and He came to the aid of the man who is your adversary" - that is, Heaven forbid that Hashem should become your enemy: if only we would love the greatest tzaddik as much as the Holy One, blessed be He, loves the greatest wicked person. Rather, the meaning is that Hashem has become with the one who is your enemy. And who is Shaul's enemy? David. Shaul thought that David was his enemy, that he wanted to overthrow him and remove him from the kingship and seek his life. And Shmuel says to him: Hashem has turned away from you and gone to your enemy, to David, and it is with him that He is now.
"וַיִּתְּנָהּ לְרֵעֲךָ לְדָוִד" - now Shmuel speaks plainly
וַיַּעַשׂ יְהוָה לוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר בְּיָדִי, וַיִּקְרַע יְהוָה אֶת הַמַּמְלָכָה מִיָּדֶךָ וַיִּתְּנָהּ לְרֵעֲךָ לְדָוִד. - And Hashem has done to him as He spoke through me, and Hashem has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your fellow, to David.
Here Shmuel states the matter explicitly. Rashi brings the teaching of Chazal: during his lifetime, when he came to him and spoke with him after the incident of Amalek, he said to him "Hashem has torn the kingdom from you and given it to your fellow who is better than you", but did not say who it was, because during his lifetime he feared that Shaul would kill him. But now Shmuel fears nothing, and therefore he can speak freely, and says explicitly: "to your fellow, to David". Now he speaks plainly, and need not conceal anything.
"And Hashem has done for him" and not "for you"
The Malbim points out a difficulty in the pasuk: it should have read "and Hashem has done for you as He spoke through me," yet the pasuk opens in the third person - "for him" - and concludes in the second person - "from your hand." The Malbim explains that Shmuel intends to answer Shaul's complaint, "and He no longer answers me, neither through the prophets": why does the Holy One inform a person at all about a future decree? What is the point of an advance notice, for when it comes he will surely know? Rather, it is for one of two reasons. One reason: so that he can repair matters. Hashem informs you that a harsh decree is coming, and through this you will strengthen yourself in prayer and repentance, and the decree will be annulled.
Shmuel tells him: in your case there is no reason for Hashem to reveal it to you, since the decree will not change. And why will it not change? We have a principle: if Hashem decreed an evil decree upon a person, and he does teshuvah, prays and pleads, the evil decree is removed from him. But if Hashem decreed a good decree, that decree will never change: even if the person alters his ways and alters his deeds, the good decree stands. The Holy One never retracted a decree for the good, except for one time - "and you shall set a mark upon the foreheads of the men" - and even there is an entire Gemara that explains the reason. But ordinarily Hashem does not retract a good decree.
Now then: an evil decree was decreed upon Shaul, the loss of the kingship. You might say: I will do teshuvah, I will pray and plead? Shmuel tells him: you cannot, because this decree contains within it a good decree for someone else. You lose the kingship, and someone else has already received a promise that he will reign. If I annul the evil decree from you, I would be obligated to annul the good decree from him. In such a situation there is no point at all for Hashem to reveal Himself to you and inform you of the decree so that you would repent and change your ways, for it would not help, and the decree would not be annulled. This is the meaning of the beginning of the pasuk: "And Hashem has done for him" - it refers back to the end of the previous pasuk, that Hashem has attached Himself to your enemy, to David. Hashem has done for him, for David, as He spoke through me: Hashem is now building the kingdom with him, "and Hashem has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to your fellow, to David" - He has already given it to him. And since He has already given it, the giving cannot be annulled, for here there is a good promise, and from a good promise Hashem does not retract.
"Moshe dies and Yehoshua brings in"
This principle is also explained through what is brought regarding Moshe Rabbeinu. When Eldad and Meidad were prophesying in the camp, Yehoshua ran to Moshe and told him that they were prophesying. And what were they prophesying? "Moshe dies and Yehoshua brings in." Moshe replied: "Would that all of Hashem's people were prophets." And they ask: what so gladdened Moshe, and what good thing is there here? Does he not understand that this is an evil decree for him? Rather, Yehoshua was ashamed to tell him the part of "and Yehoshua brings in," and told him only "Moshe dies." Moshe understood: if they inform me that I am to die, why inform me at all? So that I would strengthen myself in prayer and plead to Hashem, and Hashem would remove the decree from me. That is why he said "Would that all of Hashem's people were prophets." But Yehoshua was greatly agitated by the matter, for he had also heard "and Yehoshua brings in," and he understood that there was no chance the decree would be annulled, because kingship had already been given to someone else, and this is a good promise that Hashem does not annul. Therefore Yehoshua understood that there was something not good here, and that they were prophesying about Moshe's death absolutely, for which no teshuvah would help. But Moshe, who did not hear the end of the words, saw nothing evil in it, and said: if it is only "Moshe dies" and they are informing me, I will do teshuvah and be saved from death, and I will redeem Israel and bring them into the land and see the good land.
The second reason - it too does not apply
כַּאֲשֶׁר לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ בְּקוֹל יְהוָה וְלֹא עָשִׂיתָ חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ בַּעֲמָלֵק, עַל כֵּן הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה עָשָׂה לְךָ יְהוָה הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה. - Because you did not listen to the voice of Hashem, and did not carry out His fierce anger against Amalek, therefore Hashem has done this thing to you this day.
The second reason for which a person is informed from Heaven about a future decree is so that he will know for what he is receiving the blow, and since he knows why this thing was decreed upon him, he justifies the judgment. And Shmuel says: this reason too does not apply here, for the sin is known and revealed to you - "because you did not listen to the voice of Hashem, and did not carry out His fierce anger against Amalek." It emerges that there is no reason at all for Hashem to reveal Himself to you: to repent would not help, and to inform you of what you are being punished for is superfluous, for you know what happened with Amalek. And thereby the question is sharpened, "why have you disturbed me to bring me up" - it was entirely superfluous.
"And tomorrow you and your sons are with me" - "with me" and not "alongside me"
וְיִתֵּן יְהוָה גַּם אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל עִמְּךָ בְּיַד פְּלִשְׁתִּים, וּמָחָר אַתָּה וּבָנֶיךָ עִמִּי, גַּם אֶת מַחֲנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל יִתֵּן יְהוָה בְּיַד פְּלִשְׁתִּים. - And Hashem will also give Israel together with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons are with me; Hashem will also give the camp of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
He says "with me" (imi) and not "alongside me" (iti), and the Malbim says the difference is immense: "to go alongside him" (iti) is a merely technical accompaniment, not with the same intent and not with the same thought. "To go with him" (imi) is with the same intent and the same thought. This is how the Vilna Gaon explains the answers that Hashem gave to Bilam: the first time, "you shall not go with them (imahem), you shall not curse the people, for it is blessed." The second time, "if the men have come to call you, rise up, go alongside them (itam)" - alongside them, but not with them, by no means. And afterward, when he went, it says "and Bilam went with (im) the princes of Moav," and therefore Hashem's anger flared, for it was never permitted for him to go with them, but only alongside them.
And here it says "tomorrow you and your sons will be with me," and Chazal derive: "with me" means in complete equality, in my domain. From here we see the high level of Shaul, who merited to be with Shmuel the prophet on the same level in the World of Truth, in his domain. This is also what Chazal expound regarding an eved Ivri, "for it is good for him with you" - with you in food and drink, with you in bedding and pillows, equal in everything. If a person has only one pillow, can one fulfill "it is good for him with you" in equality? If not, then give him the pillow. You have only one blanket, give him the blanket. Whatever the master has, the servant will have too, exactly the same. This is the idea of "with you": always in complete equality, as opposed to "alongside you," which means together but not in equality.
The Repetition in the Pasuk
To Shaul's third claim, "the Pelishtim are fighting against me," the answer is "and Hashem will give Israel too, along with you, into the hand of the Pelishtim." And why Israel too? Because in the very same sin of having pity on Agag they were partners in the transgression: Shaul said "the people had pity," and there was truth in this. The people should have protested against Shaul and not taken part. They come and take sheep and cattle, and the people take too? They should have said: how can this be, the prophet forbade this!
From here the difficulty in the pasuk is resolved: why does it first say "and Hashem will give Israel too, along with you, into the hand of the Pelishtim," and at the end again "the camp of Israel too Hashem will give into the hand of the Pelishtim" - what is the repetition? Rather, the first part comes to answer the first claim, in which he complains "the Pelishtim are fighting against me": Shmuel tells him that the people too deserve punishment, for just as you did not listen to the voice of Hashem, so they did not listen and they too took from the camp of Amalek, and therefore they too will be handed over to the Pelishtim. The final part is the answer to the main question "to tell me what I should do," what is going to happen: know that the punishment is decreed, upon you and upon your people, "tomorrow you and your sons will be with me," and the camp of Israel too will be given into the hand of the Pelishtim. Up to here he answered "why do you ask me," and from here he answered what Shaul wished to know.
Shaul's Collapse and the Final Meal
וַיְמַהֵר שָׁאוּל וַיִּפֹּל מְלֹא קוֹמָתוֹ אַרְצָה וַיִּרָא מְאֹד מִדִּבְרֵי שְׁמוּאֵל, גַּם כֹּחַ לֹא הָיָה בוֹ כִּי לֹא אָכַל לֶחֶם כָּל הַיּוֹם וְכָל הַלָּיְלָה. - And Shaul hurried and fell his full length to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Shmuel; also there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all that day and all that night.
Out of dread and fear he falls his full length to the ground, and he is very afraid. And besides this, he had not eaten all that day and all that night, and therefore there was no strength in him.
וַתָּבוֹא הָאִשָּׁה אֶל שָׁאוּל וַתֵּרֶא כִּי נִבְהַל מְאֹד, וַתֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הִנֵּה שָׁמְעָה שִׁפְחָתְךָ בְּקוֹלֶךָ וָאָשִׂים נַפְשִׁי בְּכַפִּי וָאֶשְׁמַע אֶת דְּבָרֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר דִּבַּרְתָּ אֵלָי. - And the woman came to Shaul and saw that he was greatly terrified, and she said to him: Behold, your maidservant listened to your voice, and I put my life in my hand and listened to your words that you spoke to me.
She says to him: I did what you asked, to inquire for you by means of the ov, and this is a tremendous danger for me. And what is the meaning of the expression "and I put my life in my hand"? Something that a person holds in the palm of his hand, with a small blow it falls. That is to say: I endangered my life, for with a small blow, as it were, I would have lost it. I abandoned my life and endangered myself for you, and therefore I ask that you too listen to me.
וְעַתָּה שְׁמַע נָא גַם אַתָּה בְּקוֹל שִׁפְחָתֶךָ וְאָשִׂמָה לְפָנֶיךָ פַּת לֶחֶם וֶאֱכוֹל, וִיהִי בְךָ כֹּחַ כִּי תֵלֵךְ בַּדָּרֶךְ. - And now, listen please, you too, to the voice of your maidservant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and eat, so that there will be strength in you, for you will go on the way.
It is fitting that you too listen to me, that I set before you a morsel of bread to eat, so that there will be strength in you to travel the way back.
וַיְמָאֵן וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא אֹכַל, וַיִּפְרְצוּ בוֹ עֲבָדָיו וְגַם הָאִשָּׁה וַיִּשְׁמַע לְקֹלָם, וַיָּקָם מֵהָאָרֶץ וַיֵּשֶׁב אֶל הַמִּטָּה. - And he refused and said: I will not eat. But his servants pressed him, and the woman too, and he listened to their voice; and he rose from the ground and sat upon the bed.
How could a man with death staring him in the face take pleasure in eating and drinking? Therefore he refused and said, "I will not eat." And what is the meaning of "vayiftzu bo"? It is like "vayaftziru bo" ("they urged him"): the letters are interchanged, just as in keves and kesev (lamb), and in salmah and simlah (garment).
וְלָאִשָּׁה עֵגֶל מַרְבֵּק בַּבַּיִת וַתְּמַהֵר וַתִּזְבָּחֵהוּ, וַתִּקַּח קֶמַח וַתָּלָשׁ וַתֹּפֵהוּ מַצּוֹת. - The woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hurried and slaughtered it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked it into matzot.
The woman had a fatted calf, and she slaughtered it in honor of the king - and surely a person does not weigh the cost when it comes to the honor of the king. An "egel marbek" is a calf that was placed in a fattening stall to be fed and stuffed, so that it would be fit for slaughter, full of fat and full of meat. "And she baked it into matzot" - why matzot? Because the dough did not have time to rise, for they wanted him to eat at once, and so they baked it as matzot.
וַתַּגֵּשׁ לִפְנֵי שָׁאוּל וְלִפְנֵי עֲבָדָיו וַיֹּאכֵלוּ, וַיָּקֻמוּ וַיֵּלְכוּ בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא. - And she brought it before Shaul and before his servants, and they ate, and they rose and went away that night.
They rose from there and left the house of that woman, the medium, carrying this dreadful and terrible message.
In summary:
Chapter 28 is Shaul's night of truth. The Malbim proves that the act of the medium was an actual reality, as described in the words of Chazal, except that it has no power over the soul that dwells beneath the Throne of Glory, but only over that lower soul - the kista dechiuta (the spark of life) - which remains here for twelve months. The woman saw two figures: Moshe, "an old man," and Shmuel, "wrapped in a robe." Shmuel makes clear to Shaul why Hashem does not answer him: there is no purpose in an advance notice, since repentance will not annul the decree - because included within it is a good decree for David, and from a good promise the Holy One, blessed be He, does not retract. And the second reason, to inform a person of what he is being punished for, does not apply here either, for the sin of Amalek is open and known. And yet, out of all this harsh judgment, an uplifting statement flashes forth: "And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me" - with me in complete equality, in my abode. Shaul loses the kingship and his life, but he merits the abode of Shmuel the prophet in the world of truth.