Paraphrased from the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 28
Saul, the King of
Israel, was about to fight a major battle against the latest
archenemies of the
Israelites, the
Philistines. Concerned about the size of his opponents' army,
Saul asked of
Adonai if he would win the upcoming battle, or if he had fallen out of favor. He received no answer.
Saul then asked
prophets if he had fallen out of favor, and they too found no answer.
Dreadfully frightened,
he went to contact this local witch, the Witch of Endor, to fortell the battle's outcome (this was especially ironic and even mildly difficult to do since he had earlier outlawed witchcraft). The
witch wound up summoning the dead prophet
Samuel, who revealed that
Saul had indeed lost favor with god due to some earlier unpleasantness (rather than smiting some people he had been commanded to smite,
Saul had simply walked away with their cattle), and that he would indeed die in the coming battle.
When the battle ensued,
Saul's army was indeed routed, and his sons were killed. Himself pinned down and unable to escape, he decided to impale himself upon his own sword rather than dying by the
Philistine's hands.
Creepy, no?