I Samuel 31:1-13 – The Death of Saul
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
I Samuel 31:1-13 – The Death of Saul
"Welcome to the Living Word with Chuck Davis." 1 Samuel 31, 1 to 13, the death of Saul. Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and a binadab and makashua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul and the archers found him and he was badly wounded by the archers. And Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and thrust it through me, 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. And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. Thus Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and all his men on the same day together. And when the men of Israel, who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw, 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. The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and set messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Astrath and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. And then the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. 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 Bethshan. And they came to Jabesh and burned them there and they took their bones and buried them under the tamarst tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days. We now come to the end of Saul's reign and sadly the death of Jonathan as well. Jonathan's two brothers go down first, Saul is wounded, the archers have found him. He says to his armor bearer, "Run me through with the sword. I don't want to be mistreated by my enemies." But the armor bearer refuses, there's honor given towards royalty. Saul falls on his sword and so does the armor bearer. As the Philistines take over the cities, they then proceed to find Saul's body and his son's bodies and they parade Saul's head around. This is what is said in the text, "Good news to the house of their idols." This is their gospel and they take it to their gods. Remember, these are provincial gods that each of the peoples followed and their assumption would have been that Yahweh was just simply the provincial god of the Israelites, not realizing that he's the god over all. They take Saul's armor and they put it in the temple of Astoroth, another trophy of their victory and the bodies are put to the wall. We're told that valiant men from Jabesh Gilead come and take the bodies from the wall and they burn them and they bury them to give them an honorable burial. If you think back to the text, 1 Samuel 11, these people of Jabesh Gilead had been beneficiaries of Saul's first Kingly act. It's a risky business for them to come, take the bodies and give them an honorable burial. But the gratitude in their hearts for what Saul had done for them was greater than the risk. This death has been coming, it's very barbaric in the way it's described, but what we do see in the text is, "Barbaric doesn't get the last word, honor does." The soul of this passage is a reminder that honor still matters where we live and the sanctity of life and recognizing the value of people. These men of Jabesh Gilead show us the right way. Now what for me is to be reminded to do the right thing towards people. We live in a time when honor, civility, thoughtfulness are gone. Maybe one of the most kingdom things we can do today, even maybe greater than praying for someone and seeing them healed, is to act with such honor that there is a bit of nobility that is still seen within the kingdom of God. So Lord today, help us to treat people well, even take risk at times to honor people for your namesake and for their good in Jesus' name, amen.