1 Samuel 28:10
And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
In the verse Saul swears by the LORD to assure the woman of Endor that no punishment will happen to her for this thing, even though she fears exposure to the death penalty for forbidden spirit-calling. The oath promises her immunity for consulting a familiar spirit and for bringing up the person he names.
The oath belongs to Saul's visit to Endor when the Philistines had gathered for war and Saul felt alone and defenseless because God had left him and forsaken him. God no longer answered him, and the consultation was his final act of rebellion that sealed his separation from God. That sinful consultation willingly placed Saul under Satan's control and brought him into contact with Satan.
The episode did not bring Samuel back from the grave, for God does not permit Satan to resurrect the dead. The figure appearing as Samuel was a counterfeit, a lying Satanic impersonation, and the mystic voices heard there were not the dead Samuel holding communion with the living. Satan presented himself under the guise of a departed friend to gain control of the mind.
Through the woman Satan gave Saul a correct description and prediction of his fate and doom. Satan intended that deception and prediction to lead Israel further into rebellion against God and to sever its remaining ties to Him. The prediction of Saul's doom was meant to draw Israel into trusting sorcerers instead of God by seeking forbidden knowledge of the future.
The Endor oracle illustrates that the dead know nothing, their thoughts, their love and their hatred having perished, and they hold no communion with the living. It belongs to the ancient system of magic that is the same as what is now called modern Spiritualism. That system is continued in spiritualistic mediums, clairvoyants and fortune-tellers, whose lying disclosures and deceptive messages mislead those who refuse light from God's word.