Two days after his return news arrived of the utmost importance respecting the Philistine invasion. With their chariots and horses the Philistines had pressed forward towards the plain of Esdraelon and pitched their camp by Shunem[268], on the southern slope of the range now called Little Hermon, or _Jebel ed Dûhy_, while Saul encamped his forces on the opposite heights of Mount Gilboa, at _the fountain that is in Jezreel_[269], on the eastern side of the plain. As he beheld the masses of his foes passing on by hundreds and thousands, the Israelite king was filled with the utmost alarm (1 Sam. xxviii. 5). In this dreadful crisis he felt himself utterly alone. Samuel, his old adviser, had been sometime dead; the cruel massacre at Nob had alienated from him the entire priestly body; he enquired of the Lord, but _the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets_ (1 Sam. xxviii. 6). Alone, and distrusted even by his own army, he bade enquiry be made for a woman _that had a familiar spirit_. After diligent search it was ascertained that by going a distance of about 7 or 8 miles to Endor, he would find, in one of the dark and gloomy caverns[270] with which the mountain here is hollowed, a woman who might serve his purpose. Disguising himself, therefore, and accompanied by two of his retinue, the unhappy king set out under cover of night. It was an undertaking perilous in the extreme, and nothing but the agony of despair would have induced him to venture upon it. Stealing down the mountain from the camp, the three crossed the shoulder of the very hill on which the Philistines were entrenched, and made for Endor, which lay behind Shunem. Reaching the cave, the king told the witch the object of his coming. He longed to have one more interview with his old adviser, the prophet Samuel, and desired her by her arts to bring him up. At first the woman demurred, and pleaded the danger of exciting the wrath of the king, who in better days had distinguished himself by his zeal against all magic and sorcery. But her visitor calmed her fears. She exercised her arts, and the awful form of Samuel, _an old man, and covered with a mantle_, appeared. Bowing himself with his face to the earth, Saul made known his deep distress. _The Philistines_, said he, _make war against me: God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do_ (1 Sam. xxviii. 15). In reply the Prophet could only inform the king that the Day of Doom was near. _To-morrow_, said he, _the Lord will deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me_. This awful sentence utterly prostrated the unhappy king. He fell _with the fulness of his stature all along upon the earth_ (1 Sam. xxviii. 20, _marg._). For a day and a night he had eaten nothing, and now there was no more strength in him. With the utmost difficulty the woman and his two attendants succeeded in compelling him to partake of food, and then he rose up, once more crossed the shoulder of the hill, and reached the heights of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxviii. 21–25).