1 Kingdoms (1 Samuel) 28:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Initially, when Saul chose to disregard Samuel's command and took it upon himself to offer a burnt sacrifice in his absence, he claimed that urgent circumstances created by his foes necessitated this action. Instead of showing remorse, he remained composed, as if he had committed no wrong. Subsequently, God commanded the total annihilation of the Amalekites, a command Saul also failed to obey. His malicious intentions toward David ensued, and gradually, imperceptibly, he found himself unable to halt his descent, ultimately consigning himself to the depths of destruction.

Saul requested of the madman (Psalm 13:1), "Find me a woman who practices sorcery." In this moment, he became a second Adam, led astray by a woman.

When any form of foreknowledge, arising from this deception, is mistakenly accepted as truth, the deceiving demon presents it to the misguided as validation for their false beliefs. The demon orchestrates scenarios such that the flight of an eagle inspires hope in the observer, while the twitching of a liver, the movement of swollen membranes in the brain, the rolling of the eyes, and various misleading omens become signals manipulated by the deceiver, leading individuals away from God and into the service of demons under the pretense that they are foreseeing the future. Additionally, one of the forms of this deception involved ventriloquists, who were misled into thinking their sorcery could summon the souls of the deceased back to life. Hence, when Saul, in despair over his salvation, saw the Philistines arrayed against him with their entire army and thought Samuel might guide him to safety, the demon impersonated by the ventriloquist transformed in the woman’s perception into various dark figures, even though nothing tangible appeared to Saul.