1 Samuel 31--The Death of Saul

1 Samuel 31
English Standard Version

The Death of Saul
31 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

​8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

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Today, we read the end of the book of 1 Samuel, and the end of the story of Saul and his sons.  The LORD has given the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines while at the same time, the LORD has delivered the Amalekites into the hands of David and his men.  Many of the Israelites fled before the Philistine army, and died at Mount Giboa.  The Philistines were able to break through the enemy lines and make their way to Saul's sons, Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, and kill them.

The Philistines then pressed in hard on Saul using their archers to attack him from a distance, and he was hit by many arrows.  Saul then asked his armor-bearer to kill him with Saul's own sword, but the armor-bearer would not do so.  So, Saul fell upon his own sword (committed suicide) so that it would not be said that he died at the hands of an uncircumcised Philistine.  When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword (committed suicide) so that he would die together with the king.  So then Saul and all three of his sons along with Saul's armor-bearer all died together that day.  The way is now clear for David to take the throne that has bene promised to him.

The men of Gilead saw that the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and they also so that Saul and all his sons had died, and they decided to save themselves by fleeing and abandoning their cities.  Then the Philistines took over the cities of Gilead and lived there.

The next day, the Philistines came out to strip whatever was valuable off of those who had died and they found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa.  The cut off Saul's head and stripped off his armor (so they would have have proof of death) and they went around to all the Philistines peoples, especially to the houses of their idols, with the good news that they had defeated Israel and put King Saul and his sons to death.  The put the armor of Saul in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they pinned Saul's body and the bodies of his sons up to the wall of the city of Beth-shan.

However, the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, one of the cities "Beyond the River" in the land of Gilead that was mentioned a little bit ago, heard what they had done to Saul, their valiant men rose up and went out by night to take the bodies of Saul and his sons off of the wall of Beth-shan.  They took them back to their city of Jabesh and burned the bodies.  They then took the bones of Saul and his sons and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and the people there fasted seven days as they mourned the loss of Saul, his sons, and probably all the others who died in that battle.

Next time we'll start 2nd Samuel which will cover the period of David as king, though not everyone will immediately accept him as king.