The End of King Saul
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we looked at David’s rescue of those who lived in Ziklag—which was the families of those who were with David.
Today, we come to the last chapter of 1 Samuel, and we return to the battle between the Philistines and the army of Israel.
If you have been with us throughout our study of 1 Samuel, you’ll remember that Saul was told by Samuel that he was going to lose the kingdom of Israel. When we looked at chapter 28, Saul has a medium conjure up Samuel, who wanted to know why Saul was asking him for advice after he died, because Saul didn’t listen to him when he was alive. Nevertheless, Samuel tells Saul that he is going to die in the battle with the Philistines, and so are his troops.
You may remember that chapter 29 then deals with the Philistines sending David back to Ziklag, because they don’t trust him to fight against Israel for them. Then chapter 30, as we said, deals with the David’s revenge on the Amalekites.
The last chapter of 1 Samuel records Saul’s demise. If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn to 1 Samuel chapter 31, and we’ll begin reading with verse 1.
The Battle
The Battle
Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa.
So the battle is between all the Philistine forces and against Israel.
The are fighting on Mount Gilboa. This is mountain is located in the central part of the northern kingdom of Israel. If you look at a map it is located south and west of the Sea of Galilee.
The Israelites are fleeing from the enemy. And they dropped like flies—“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.
Not only was the Israelite army fleeing, but Saul and his three sons were fleeing as well.
And the philistines were in “hot pursuit.”
The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
The fighting grew fierce—it was a horrible battle.
Archers overtook Saul, and fatally wounded him. They apparently shot at him with arrows and one of those arrows found its mark.
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.
Saul asked his armor-bearer to do something that no armor-bearer would ever do. Saul asks him to run him through—to kill him!
Here the NIV says Saul is afraid that the Philistines will “abuse” him. He’s afraid they will torture him.
But his armor-bearer refuses to run Saul through—the text says because he was so afraid! What we don’t know is what the armor-bearer was afraid of. Was it the battle, or was it the penalty of killing the Lord’s anointed?
So Saul takes his own sword and “falls on it.” In other words, Saul takes his own life!
When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him.
When Saul’s armor-bearer sees that Saul is dead, he falls on his sword and dies with king Saul. So he too takes his own life.
So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.
So we have Saul dead.
Saul’s three sons: Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua are dead.
Saul’s armor-bearer is dead.
All of Saul’s men are dead.
They all died together on the same day—Just like spirit of Samuel predicted.
Fear in Israel
Fear in Israel
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.
The Israelites along the valley there at Mount Gilboa saw that Israel’s army fled, they saw that Saul and his sons had died—so there is no leadership in Israel—the fled from their towns from both sides of the Jordan river.
And the Philistines came and occupied the towns that had been left behind.
The Brutality of the Philistines
The Brutality of the Philistines
The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
These men were brutal. The next couple of verses are graphic in nature.
First, they came and stripped the dead.
As they did, they found Saul dead!
They found Saul’s three sons dead.
All of them were lying there 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.
Next they took Saul, the king of Israel and cut off his head.
Then they stripped off his armor.
They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news in the temples of their idols, because they credited their gods with the victory.
They proclaimed it among the people, because this was BIG news! King Saul—their arch enemy was dead. Not only that but his successors were all dead! In effect, Israel was no longer a threat to the Philistines! Or so they thought!
They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
They took Saul’s armor and put in the temple of the Ashtoreths. This may have meant that Saul’s armor went on a traveling tour through the temples dedicated to the female goddess Ashtoreth.
According to 1 Chronicles 10:10, Saul’s head was hung in the temple of Dagon—similar to the way Goliath’s head was taken by David to Jerusalem.
They put his armor in the temple of their gods and hung up his head in the temple of Dagon.
The nailed his body to the wall of the city of Beth Shan—this is at the crossroads between the valley of Jezreel and the Jordan valley.
The Heroes of Israel
The Heroes of Israel
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.
The people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.
This was disturbing to Jabesh Gilead, because Saul had freed it from the Ammonites back in chapter 11. It is very possible that some of the “valiant men” were relatives of Saul.
These valiant men marched through the night to reach Beth Shan.
They took Saul and Saul’s sons from the wall (this is the firs that we’ve heard about his sons being on the wall).
They brought the bodies back to Jabesh Gilead and buried them under a tamarisk tree—an evergreen tree.
Then they fasted for 7 days.
This was not a royal burial. Saul and his sons should have been buried in a royal tomb. And the people should have fasted for 30 days—you can compare Numbers 20:29 and Deuteronomy 34:8—This burial and shortened fast, suggests that Saul was not honored as the royal king of Israel, for he has lost his honor.
So What?
So What?
So Saul lost his life. And, yes, he lost it just like God said he would lose it. But it is important that we don’t miss the fact that it was God who removed Saul from being King. Look at 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 .
Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.
Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord.
Let me ask you a question, how faithful are you to the Lord?
He was unfaithful because he did not keep the word of the Lord—in other words he didn’t do what God told him to do back in 1 Samuel 15.
He was unfaithful to the Lord because he consulted with a medium for guidance rather than asking the Lord.
So God put him to death!
Remember what Samuel told Saul back in chapter 15? In 1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel told Saul:
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
God always prefers our obedience! In fact, God says our obedience is far better than being sorry.
Jesus continued this idea in the Gospel of John. John 14:15 says,
“If you love me, keep my commands.
The NET says,
“If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
The way this reads it implies that if you don’t keep His commandments, you do not love Him!
So this morning we’ve looked at the effects of gross disobedience, and we’ve seen that today, Jesus connected this command of obedience to showing love for Him. Just a little later, Jesus equated obedience with abiding, or continuing in the love of Jesus. John 15:10 says,
If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
Are you living your life in obedience to Jesus?
It’s sad to me that I often hear that God’s commands are too hard to follow. Yet Matthew 11:30 tells us that God’s commands are not a burden. Look at it.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Now then, Obedience is doing both what God’s Word says, and what the Holy Spirit reveals that you should be doing. That’s the message of James 4:17.
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
So how is your obedience?