fattened calf … flour … and baked unleavened bread: Preparing this meal required much time and effort. It showed generous hospitality (compare Genesis 18:5–7). The meal that the medium shared with Saul recalls the fine meal that Samuel once shared with Saul (1 Samuel 9:22–24). That earlier meal, shared with God’s prophet, marked the beginning of Saul’s kingship. This later meal, shared with a condemned medium, came shortly before Saul’s death.