Criticism of the Prophet's Performance

Regarding the belly-gods and the frivolous things, you shall not be joined to them, being defiled by them, for 'I am the Lord your God.' But do you not consider these abominations to be ungodly, attempting to perform dramas in opposition to God? Listen now to what else the God is oracling regarding such a daring act: 'and a soul,' he says, 'whichsoever shall follow the belly-gods or the frivolous things so as to commit fornication after them.' having added 'of any kind or sort' it shall suffer, he emphasized by advancing: 'I will set my face,' saying, 'against that soul, and I will destroy it from its people.'

If, therefore, God, having legislated from the beginning, sent through strict decrees those who are enticed by such frivolous things or divinations, and threatens grim and terrible punishments against those who are caught in the judgment with fear, was it not necessary for Him, the one lying down upon soft pillows and the steadfast guardian of the law, to first indict these matters?

But he, being able to reach the most extreme scrutiny of the law through study and to clarify the legal lines accurately, would not have sought out the trifle, lest perhaps through this some might be drawn into the sleeves of divination, being miserably deceived by falsehood. Yet, regarding these things, he neither said nor sought anything (for it was not Samuel, but one performing such dramas who spoke from above), but instead he responds to these, assuming the mask of the prophet, saying, 'Why do you ask me, and the Lord has departed from you and has become with your neighbor? And the Lord has done to you according to what he spoke through my hand' (1 Samuel 28:6). Thus, by presenting these as both an enemy and a vengeance, the reader is introduced to the reminders of the accusation.

It must be observed how, having presented these connected elements, he weaves his indictments by speaking more demonstratively through hypocrisy, yet having said nothing worthy of foreknowledge, treating those things as second-hand craftsmanship, which Samuel had already foretold would be joined to Saul, which he was already prophesying as having already happened. But indeed, by saying to him, 'Why do you ask me?', he confesses these things disjointedly, as having said them before; he repeats himself, indeed, confirming the first things through the latter under the pretext of enchanting. On the contrary, Origenes distinguishes those words previously uttered by the prophet as if they were complete and new words of prophecy, because...