The Philistines with their chariots of iron and armed soldiers amassed along the border of the Israelites. Saul camped his soldiers at a distance away from the Philistines; but within eyesight. And Saul didn’t like what he saw. He saw a large well equipped Philistine army. Saul looked at the Israelite army; and their weapons, for the most part, were farming tools, because the Philistines had not permitted the Israelites to have swords and spears and typical weapons of war.
To Saul, this looked like a disaster; so he called on God; but God didn’t answer him. Out of fear and desperation he went to a sorcerer; but, didn’t like the answer he got. He asked the sorcerer to let him talk to Samuel who had already died. Samuel told Saul the Lord would deliver the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines and that Saul and his sons would be no more. [Reflection based on the Bible Reference 1 Samuel 28:1-19]