Bible Strands
1 Samuel 28:14
“What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up,” she replied. “And he is wearing a robe.” So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed facedown in reverence.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Saul asks the medium to describe the ascending figure, and she reports seeing an old man wearing a robe. Upon hearing this, Saul identifies the apparition as Samuel and bows facedown in reverence.
The words — The text uses אִישׁ זָקֵן ('ish za.Ken), literally "an old man," alongside the explicit mention of a robe. These lexical choices ground the medium's vision in tangible, physical descriptors rather than abstract phenomena.
The thread — The robe detail links to 1 Samuel 15:27, where Saul's grasping tears Samuel's garment, and parallels the prophetic cloak motif in 2 Kings 2:8. These textual echoes frame the medium's description within established biblical markers of prophetic identity.
Why it lands — The passage records Saul's visual confirmation and physical bow without explaining the medium's technique or validating the spirit's origin. It presents a king's desperate search for confirmation, leaving the reader to observe the mechanics of recognition without theological commentary.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 15:27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.
- 1 Samuel 24:8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence
- 2 Kings 2:8 And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
- 2 Kings 2:13 Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.