When you pick up a novel, you won’t be surprised to find lots of physical descriptions of scenery and characters. We’re used to reading books that tell us what stuff looks like. But unlike modern novels, the Bible offers very few physical descriptions. Sometimes you can go through chapters or entire books of the Bible with no clue what the characters look like.
At one level, this might seem unfortunate—who wouldn’t want to know if Peter had big ears or if Jesus actually wore a red sash all the time (like in the cartoons I was raised on)? However, it actually means that when the Bible does offer physical descriptions they often serve a bigger purpose than just adding color. Physical descriptions often support some bigger point or theme the author wants us to notice. So when you read that John the Baptist wore camels’ hair or that King Saul was a head taller than everyone else, it’s not a bad idea to ask, “Why did the author insert this description? What bigger point could it support?”
Take, for instance, one of the weirder stories in the Bible: Saul and the Witch of Endor. Maybe that sounds a bit like Star Wars fan fiction, but it’s actually a story from the Old Testament book called 1 Samuel about King Saul’s last night alive.
Saul was the first king that God set over the ancient nation of Israel. While Saul’s royal career had a promising start, he soon spiraled downwards through a pattern of dishonesty, pride, and hypocrisy, so God promised Saul that his kingdom would be taken from him and given to someone else. That someone would be David.
King Saul’s final downfall begins when he is looking ahead to a battle against the Philistines, Israel’s archenemies. On the night before the battle, Saul is terrified that they might lose, so he asks God how the battle will go, but God doesn’t answer him. Since God won’t answer, Saul decides to look for answers through the illicit means of a medium, or witch. He disguises himself (a detail we’ll return to later) and finds a medium—the witch of Endor—and asks her to summon the ghost of the prophet Samuel. When he was alive, Samuel was God’s prophet and always knew what was going on, so Saul hopes Samuel will tell him if they’ll beat the Philistines or not.
During the séance, the medium screams and Saul asks, “What do you see?” She says, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” (In Hebrew, the word “god” can refer to many kinds of spirit beings, not just the God who created the world.) Saul asks, “What does he look like?” And she replies, “An old man is coming up, and he’s wrapped in a robe.” Saul then recognizes that it's Samuel.
It’s interesting that the somewhat generic description of “old man wrapped in a robe” somehow helps Saul identify Samuel (couldn’t other dead people wear robes?). But it’s also worth asking, “Why does the author insert this description? What bigger point could it support?”
To answer the question, we have to back up a bit. Saul and Samuel have history, and some of it actually revolves around Samuel’s robe. If you do a quick search for “robe” in 1 Samuel, you’ll actually find that Samuel’s robe shows up near the beginning of the book. Samuel’s mother Hannah couldn’t have children, so she prays to God and says if she can have a son she’ll give him back to God. God and Hannah are both good for their word: God gives Hannah a son who she names Samuel, and Hannah gives Samuel back to God by sending him to serve with God’s priests when he’s a little boy.
Here’s where the first mention of Samuel’s robe shows up. The priests wore special linen ephods (these were a kind of sleeveless robe), so Samuel wears a linen ephod, and Hannah makes Samuel a new “little robe” every year when she visits him. Samuel’s special robe is a sign of his special office.
In ancient Israel, priests anoint kings (which is why the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the monarch in an English coronation today). So when Saul becomes Israel’s first king, it’s Samuel’s job to anoint him as a sign that he will rule Israel. Saul has a solid start as king—he does what God says, and is met with initial success.
But then Saul takes a major downturn when he doesn’t listen to God—first he performs a sacrifice that only Samuel was allowed to do, and then he disobeys a command from God to destroy all of the booty from one of his battles, instead keeping the best things for himself. On this occasion, God tells Samuel that he regrets making Saul king, since Saul won’t obey God’s commands.
Samuel’s robe will come into play again when Samuel comes to confront Saul. Samuel puts Saul on notice: his kingship has an expiration date. Samuel says,
“You rejected the word of the Lord, so the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and will give it to your neighbor who is better than you.” (1 Samuel 15:26–28)
Saul tears Samuel’s robe, which Samuel uses as an illustration of the way that God will tear the kingdom out of Saul’s hand. Here the “robe” becomes a symbol for “the kingdom of Israel.”
Since the author has already planted the idea that the “robe” symbolizes the “kingdom,” two other mentions of robes in Samuel take on new meaning. Samuel travels to a little, out-of-the-way town called Bethlehem, where God tells him to anoint a young shepherd named David to be the next king of Israel in place of Saul. After being anointed, David rises to prominence through a series of events, the most famous being when he defeats the giant Goliath. David ends up serving as a general in Saul’s army and finds a close friend in Saul’s son, Jonathan.
Saul quickly becomes jealous of David’s popularity and tries to kill him, but Jonathan does everything he can to help David succeed. Jonathan is the crown prince, but he knows that God will give David the kingdom. Unlike Saul, Jonathan isn’t jealous at all, and only shows David love. He tells David not to fear Saul, and says, “You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be second to you” (1 Samuel 23:17).
Because Jonathan loves David, he makes a covenant (a binding promise) with David that he will help him. To seal the deal, “Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his garment, and even his sword and his bow and his belt” (1 Samuel 18:4). These gifts are meant to confirm the covenant (this was a common ancient practice), but beyond that, Jonathan’s robe is a prince’s robe—a royal robe. Just like Jonathan willingly hands his royal robe over to David, he will also give him his royalty. A last detail makes this story particularly significant: Jonathan’s name means “Yahweh (that’s God’s name) has given.” So “Yahweh has given” gives his royal robe to David, because he knows Yahweh has given it to David. Jonathan recognizes that God can give the kingdom to whoever he wishes, and he won’t stand in the way if God wants to give the kingdom to David.