I Samuel 31:1 - II
Samuel 1:15
We return in our
story from David to Saul. Today we will
read the final chapter in Saul’s reign.
In preparing, I came across a couple of graphs which explain the arc of
Saul’s life. Let’s look at them in turn.
Saul started out as
a physically impressive man, tall and handsome, but otherwise without
distinction. Then, God singled him out
for the kingship of Israel. When Saul
was appointed king, there was a brief season of life where he followed God and
saw mighty victories. But there were
cracks of selfishness and disbelief.
Ultimately, he turned from following the counsel of the prophet Samuel
and then he rejected God’s command. This
directly caused God to reject Saul as king of His people. There was time along this downward path where
Saul could have repented, but he would not.
Saul then became jealous of David and hunted David to destroy him. Saul had the priests of God killed in a fit
of paranoid rage. And, as we will see
today, Saul will take his own life. A
tragic arc … a tragic life.
The second graph
shows the situation more simply. There
is the time of low faithfulness when Saul did not follow God, and then there is
a high faithfulness time where Saul did follow God. Rather than an arc, this graph is more
digital, a square wave, off-on-off.
Jesus said it simply in Luke 11:23, “Whoever is not with me is against
me.” Jesus went on to explain that it is
possible to change a person’s life on the outside, but not the inside. That person can do good things, but unless
they are changed, filled on the inside, the ultimate condition of that person
will be worse than it was at the first.
Saul is an example to us of one who follows God for a time, but is not
yielded to Him, transformed by Him.
And now, we will see
Saul reap what he has sown. Let’s pray
and ask the Lord to reveal what we need to understand from this passage.
Lord God, I thank
You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You that
when we put our faith in the Lord Jesus, You put Your Spirit in us as a
guarantee of our eternal life in You.
May we not act in such a way to grieve Your Spirit. Teach us now from Your Word, we pray. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
I Samuel 31:1 …
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the
Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul
and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. –I Samuel 31:1-2
Back in chapters 28
and 29, we read how the Philistines gathered their forces in the northern part
of Israel in a place called the Jezreel Valley.
Mount Gilboa is on the far southeast end of this large open area. This area around Gilboa was both the place
where Saul had set up camp and it was the fastest escape route back to the
territory of Benjamin and Saul’s hometown of Gibeah.
This picture shows
an ariel view from the Jezreel valley toward Mount Gilboa and the Jordan
River. The forces of Israel are in full
retreat. They are trying to get up and
away from the valley, escaping from fast moving chariots and finding cover
among rocks or trees.
The pursuit though
is relentless. The army of Israel has
been overrun by the Philistines. Three
of Saul’s sons have fallen in the battle including his oldest son and David’s
friend Jonathan. It is chaos among the
Israelites.
The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the
archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your
sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me
through and abuse me.” But his
armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and
fell on it. When the armor-bearer saw
that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. –I Samuel 31:3-5
Saul has been
critically wounded. He is likely
bleeding substantially, and he can flee no farther. He expects to die from his wounds. At the same time, he is fearful of what might
happen to him at the hands of the Philistines.
This is a real fear. Samson had
been mutilated and humiliated after he had been captured.
Saul’s armor-bearer
was likely a capable and brave man. You
wouldn’t get to be the king’s armor-bearer if you were incompetent and
cowardly. It is likely that the very
first time he thought the king would ask him to strike him was that
moment. He cannot strike the king.
Saul’s journey of self-destruction,
that downward arc has now reached its end.
He finishes the job himself. The
armor-bearer too follows Saul into death.
So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and
all his men died together that same day. When the Israelites along the valley and those
across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his
sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came
and occupied them. –I Samuel 31:6-7
The outcome of the
battle has been the death of the king, most of the men of the royal family, and
his loyal bodyguard. This has been a
massive victory for the Philistines.
They didn’t only plunder the land.
They have occupied the valley and the cities in and around it even
beyond the Jordan.
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the
dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and stripped off his
armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to
proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. They put his armor in the temple of the
Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. –I Samuel 31:8-10
It would seem that
Saul didn’t have to immediately worry about what the Philistines were going to
do to him. They didn’t come back to
plunder the dead until the next day.
They took their trophies and sent out the news of their victory. Placing Saul’s armor in their pagan temple
was symbolic. They attributed their
victory to the Philistine gods.
The city of Beth
Shan where they displayed Saul’s body was not far away from Mount Gilboa.
When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines
had done to Saul, all their valiant men marched through the night to Beth Shan.
They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and
went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them
under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. –I Samuel 31:11-13
Jabesh Gilead is the
city where Saul delivered his first great military victory more than forty
years earlier. It would seem that this
act has not been forgotten.
It is 15 miles from
Jabesh Gilead to Beth Shan. In addition,
they had to cross the Jordan River. Making the trip in the dark is a demanding
effort in the best conditions. It is an
even more remarkable undertaking in the face of a powerful adversary occupying
the territory half the way there and back.
It was not customary
to cremate bodies in ancient Israel. It
appears that this action was taken to prevent any further abuse of the bodies
of Saul and his sons at the hands of the Philistines. Their time of fasting was a demonstration of
their mourning. It is a far longer
period of fasting while mourning than other times mentioned in first and second
Samuel.
First and second
Samuel were originally one book in the Hebrew.
In the second century before Christ, the Septuagint, the first Greek
translation of what we think of as the Old Testament, separated the book of
Samuel into two books, and so it has come to us with this same separation.
And so there is no
segue between the two books. The story
simply continues.
After the death of Saul, David returned from striking
down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. On the third day a man arrived from Saul's
camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell
to the ground to pay him honor. “Where
have you come from?” David asked him.
He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
“What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.”
“The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of
them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.” –II Samuel 1:1-4
If you remember from
I Samuel 30 last week, David had faced a grueling pursuit and far ranging
battle against the Amalekites. He and
his men recovered their wives, children, flocks, herds, and possessions. No doubt bringing them all back to their
homes in Ziklag had taken some time.
They did not reach Ziklag far in the south of Israel until after Saul
had died. News finally reaches David.
David is hungry for
the news. A messenger in torn clothes
with dust on his head can be expected to relay bad news.
Then David said to the young man who brought him the
report, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?"
“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man
said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their
drivers in hot pursuit. When he turned
around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?” He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ ‘An Amalekite,’ I answered. Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and
kill me! I'm in the throes of death, but I'm still alive.’ So I stood beside him and killed him, because
I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that
was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
–II Samuel 1:5-10
This young man
begins his story badly. When he says “I
happened to be,” that already smacks of deception. No one “happens” to be in the middle of a
battle.
Then, his disclosure
that he is an Amalekite makes it seem unlikely that he was a member of the army
of Israel since the Amalekites are enemies of the Israelites. He seems more likely to be a scavenger than a
warrior.
He has the crown and
armband of the king, so he was clearly there. That part of the story at least is true. However, this story about Saul calling to
this man to strike him down does not agree with the account we just read in I
Samuel 31. It seems that this young man
is hoping to gain a reward for striking down Saul who had ruthlessly pursued
David for so long.
Then David and all the men with him took hold of their
clothes and tore them. They mourned and
wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of
the LORD and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. –II
Samuel 1:11-12
Tearing ones clothes
is a way of demonstrating deep grief and mourning. They went without food the remainder of that
day, again a way of demonstrating deep grief and mourning. The magnitude of this defeat is not lost on
David. They grieve for all the
losses: Saul, his son, the army, and the
nation. David shows no hint of personal
satisfaction in the death of Saul even though it likely means his future safety
and freedom. Instead …
David said to the young man who brought him the
report, “Where are you from?”
“I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he
answered.
David asked him, “Why weren't you afraid to lift your
hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?”
Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he
struck him down, and he died. –II Samuel 1:13-15
Sadly, I think that
this young man is both prideful and ignorant.
That is a dangerous combination to be sure. He confirms again that he is an
Amalekite. It is unlikely that he knows
about David’s exploits against the Amalekites, but it would be difficult for
him to be unaware of the animosity between the Israelites and the Amalekites.
The Amalekites have
been enemies to the Israelites from the days when Israel came out of
Egypt. The Amalekites were the first to
attack the Israelites after the Exodus.
They were the adversary when Moses held up his arms and then was helped
by Aaron and Hur to hold up his arms as Joshua fought against the
Amalekites. At the end of that battle,
the Lord said that He “will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under
heaven.” Moses also recorded that “the
LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
And yet, David does
not condemn the young man because of this.
The Amalekite instead is condemned by his own words. As one who boasts that he struck down the
Lord’s anointed whether he is telling the truth or not, this Amalekite is
struck down justly as the confessed murderer of the king.
We see again a great
contrast between David and Saul. Saul
was concerned for himself and his legacy.
David is concerned for the Lord’s anointed and His people. Saul gave no apparent leadership in the
battle. The beginning of the Amalekite’s
account said that the Israelites fled the battle. David even now takes the leadership role in
judging the man who has brought him an account of destroying Saul.
We see tragedy in
two men in today’s passage, first Saul and then the Amalekite. Both have been brought down because of their
selfishness, their rejection of the ways of God.
Yesterday, when I
woke up, there was a song playing in my head.
I mean literally, the tune was in my head before I picked it up off the
pillow. Maybe that’s not so unusual, but
it was unusual because I don’t know the last time I had heard the song. I couldn’t even remember the lyrics at first
because it’s not a song I know well.
Slowly, I teased out a few words from the chorus. It is an “old” southern gospel song from the
Cathedrals Quartet. It was the lead
track on side two of their 1982 album Something Special. The name of the song is “Turn Your Back” by
Dianne Wilkinson.
“If you’re tired of
the life you’re living
If you’re taking
more than you’ve been given
If your life seems a
little more lonely every day
Turn your back to
the life you’re leadin’
Turn your back to
the voice you’re heedin’
Turn your eyes to
the Morning Star,
Who loves you for
what you are
He’s the only One
Who can show you a better way
(Chorus)
Turn your back to
the road you’re walkin’
Turn your back to
the way you’re talkin’
Turn your back to
the “friends” who just want to bring you down
Turn your back you
will start believin’
Turn your back you
will start receivin’
Turn your eyes to
the Lord above
And you’ll soon find
the perfect love
He’s the only one
Who can turn your life around
If you’ve searched
all your life for something
And it seems that
you have missed the one thing
That will give you
peace, and comfort your troubled heart
Turn your back on
the doubts and confusion
Turn your back on
your disillusion
Turn your feet
toward a brand new road
You will find a
friend to share your load
He’s the only One
Who can give you a brand new start"
The focus of the
song is salvation, of course. But
turning our backs on selfishness, pride, material pursuits, and wrong thinking
is something believers must also do. As I
John 2:15-16 warns us, we should not love the world or anything of the world
including physical lusts of all kinds, greed, and pride.
Looking into this
passage, I came across a word which I had not heard of before. The word is kiasu. It is a combination of the root words afraid
and lose. It is concept which
encompasses the fear of losing or missing out.
It’s a kind of proverbial expression, and it can have positive and
negative connotations. In general though,
it is regarded as negative because it is used to refer to someone who always thinks
of themselves first above anything else.
They are always trying to get ahead in one way or another. Kiasu is basically overcompetitiveness.
The culture that we
live in is driven by a philosophy of ‘kiasu-ism.’ There is an expectation that everyone wants to
be outstanding or at least better than others.
Saul was consumed with this kiasu.
He could have glorified God when David came on the scene as the one who
defeated Goliath, but Saul couldn’t stand the thought that more credit and
praise went to David than to him.
There was a dark
side that Saul refused to turn away from, and he literally lost his mind in
desperation to keep a hold on the kingship no matter what the cost. Proverbs 16:18 makes it clear that pride
leads to destruction and haughtiness leads to a fall. Saul’s pride ultimately led him to turn away
from God and not come back.
Scripture explains many
different ways to get off track.
The Galatians turned
against the gospel by following Jewish legalism (Galatians 1:6, 4:9-11). They
deserted God to follow a false gospel.
They wanted to be righteous or good by following rules.
The Ephesians were
hard workers who persevered through difficulty, but they stopped loving the
Lord. Jesus warned them in Revelation 2 to
repent, to turn back and do the things they did at first. (Revelation 2:4-5).
The Corinthians
tolerated sexual immorality (I Corinthians 5:1-13) as did the church at
Pergamum (Revelation 2:16). They were not concerned as though how they lived
didn’t matter. The message to them … repent, turn back to God.
Nearing the end of
his life, Paul wrote to Timothy to come to him quickly because Demas had
deserted him. (II Timothy 4:9-10). He left Paul because Demas loved this world
more.
We can be deceived
by all sorts of false teaching or false teachers. Jesus warned all seven churches
in Revelation to repent and turn around to follow God once again (Revelation
2:16, 21; 3:3, 19).
Turning away from
God starts with sin. The cure for sin is
confession and turning back towards God in repentance.
Saul’s reign as king
can be divided into two parts. The first
part was short, but there was a time where Saul was faithful and his reign was
fruitful with victories and deliverance of an oppressed people. The second part was ungodly and evil. In his early days, he did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord. But he turned away
from God, and did evil instead.
Let us be like the
people of Jabesh Gilead. Let us not
forget that there was good that Saul had done when he followed God. Let’s serve the Lord in the circumstances and
places that He has given to us.
Let’s choose not to follow
his bad example. Don’t turn away from God even in times of adversity. Let’s live with our focus on God and pleasing
him rather than focusing on the world and pleasing its never-ending
expectations. Turning away from God has
collateral damage. Both believers and
unbelievers around us will be negatively impacted. Saul’s armor-bearer followed his bad example
and took his own life, too.
If we have wandered
from the Lord, there is a way back. We
don’t have to fall into Saul’s trap. We
can always turn around to follow the Lord again. We can be restored in our relationship to Him. There is not a problem on God’s side. He is not angry with us. His blood is sufficient to cover our sins
past, present, and future.
But while we need to
choose to be devoted and follow God daily and sometimes more often than that, there
doesn’t need to be a cycle of turning toward and away from God like a wave
tossed by the wind. Jesus said it simply
in Luke 11. It is possible to change a
person’s life on the outside, but not the inside. That person can do good things for a time,
but unless they are changed, filled on the inside, the ultimate condition of
that person will be worse than it was at the first. Saul is an example to us of one who follows
God for a time, but is not yielded to Him, transformed by Him.
That filling is God’s
Holy Spirit. God sends us His Spirit
when we accept Him. At the same time,
Scripture tells us to “be filled.” That
filling depends in part to a response from us.
Matthew 5:6 says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.”
We need to be hungry and thirsty for the things of God. The things of this world are ultimately
unsatisfying and empty. As Ephesians 5:18
says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled
with the Spirit.”
Paul prayed over the
Ephesians, “that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power
through his Spirit in your inner being that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17).
So let us pray now,
and seek God freshly for our need as well as the needs of those we know who
have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ.
Lord God, I pray
that out of your glorious riches You may strengthen these Your saints with
power through Your Spirit in their inner being that Christ may dwell in their
hearts through faith. I pray too that
the message of Jesus and His saving power would be extended through us to those
who do not know You. May Your Name go
out into all the earth. In Jesus’ Name,
we pray. Amen.
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