See v. 11, where the expression “bring up” twice occurs. Evidently the ancients, in general, envisioned a subterranean region as the dwelling place of the dead. If the doctrine held by most Christians, that a righteous man ascends to heaven at death, had been held in this ancient period, the summons would have been to bring Samuel down, and the spirit-impersonator of Samuel would have said, “Why have you brought me down?” This one point in the record is sufficient in itself to rule out this narrative as proof in behalf of the doctrine of the conscious state of the righteous dead.

 This clause must not be interpreted as meaning that it was actually Samuel who spoke. The writer simply describes events as they appeared, which is the normal way in a narrative. The Bible also speaks of the sun as rising and setting, and so do we. Nor is anyone deceived or confused by the fact that we are thus speaking simply of appearances. Actually, the sun does not rise and set, rather the earth revolves. In the verse before us the context and a comparison with other scriptures make clear that an impersonation of Samuel was uttering the sayings here attributed to the deceased prophet (see on v. 12).