That’s All Folks…?

We’ve come to the final chapter in first Samuel, and cue the Porky Pig… that’s all folks. But, not really, because really we’ve just finished the first half of a single scroll that had to be split because scrolls could only be so long. But, I digress.

One scholar notes that we show up late to the party — the Philistines were already fighting against Israel, and he notes that it seems the author is in no hurry to get on with the story telling. We might ask, “Why?” and the answer maybe lies in the tragedy we’re introduced to: “…the men of Israel fled…Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.” It truly is tragedy. He’s delayed our arrival to this sad day, filling us in on all of David’s doings…even fast-forwarding to his gift-giving to the men of Judah. But, the clock cannot stop forever, and he lets us know up front: the day is not a happily-ever-after day. While David had the blessing of a double deliverance, first from the front lines and then from the Amalekites and Ziklag, Saul will know no such rescue. Today, the enemies of God seem to win the day.

And yet, when we read of the tragedy, we really should pause and consider, “Is it all that surprising?” I’m not minimizing the sorrow and death. But, hear me out. On Mount Gilboa, the people of God slaughtered and Saul their shepherd lying beside them, God exposes the folly of Israel’s idolatry. Remember that they craved a king — give us someone to rule over us like all the other nations (1 Samuel 8:7–8 “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.”) They believed their solution was a monarchy and probably called it something like progress, but God had a different name for it: idolatry. The sad testimony about trusting in idols is that sometimes idols lie shattered on the ground before the ark of the Lord, like Dagon in 5:1-5, and other lie slain on the side of Mount Gilboa, like Saul’s army. Lord help us when we love something more than we love You.

God’s Servant Remains Faithful

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When we first get to the battle, verse one is our succinct summary. Then, verse 2 gives us a peculiar detail — the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons until they were able to overtake them. This was not as common as you might think, singling out a king his sons in battle. Typically they were protected and shielded. But the Philistines pursue them. In their pursuit, Saul’s sons are struck down. The first one mentioned: Jonathan.

Heart

One of the saddest moments…it should be the tear-jerker moment in the narrative. This is Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. It’s Boromir’s last stand protecting the fellowship and Merry and Pippin. It’s Black Widow’s self-sacrifice so Hawkeye could retrieve the soul stone. It’s Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan, who is the best of his men, sacrificing himself so that Private Ryan can be the one brother that makes it home to his mother.

What can we say about this sad moment? Jonathan, as we’ve mentioned time and time again, is one of the best of them all. No ill word has been spoken of Jonathan, and here lies his brief obituary. What do we see being carried along on the currents just beneath the surface? We see a friend that true to David, strengthening him in the Lord and providing for his escape. We see a son who was faithful to his father, maybe even to a fault. But, just as David would not harm God’s anointed, so Jonathan would not dishonor his father. We see a man who knew and lived the meaning of sacrifice. The kingdom was not his so he did not cling to it, and he gave his very life defending his father.

As it all comes to an end, where is Jonathan? At his father’s side, the very place YHWH had called him to be. We must see this with eyes of faith. Was Jonathan’s end tragic? Not in the least, for he remained faithfully in the task God had assigned him. In Davis’ words:

Was it tragic when Jonathan laid aside a kingdom he could not have to enter a kingdom he could not lose?

May we all be so quick to surrender our own rights that we might see the kingdom of Christ lived out and growing on this earth.

God’s Word Proves True

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As the battle presses on, as Saul and his sons are found by the Philistine fighters, an archer’s arrow finds Saul, severely wounding him. No doubt Saul knew tales of how the Philistines treated their POW’s, and he wanted nothing to do with the suffering that would come at their hands. He asks his armor bearer to draw his sword and strike Saul down, yet he refuses. So, Saul takes his own sword, falls on it, and takes his own life. His armor bearer, seeing what had been done, follows suit and dies beside the king. Verse 6 is the tragic end:

1 Samuel 31:6 ESV

Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together.

In response to this utter defeat, the Israelites on the other side of the Jezreel Valley and beyond the Jordan abandoned their towns and fled, leaving their towns to the Philistines who were all-to-ready to move in and take over.

This passage truly tells of a brutal beat-down. “Flee” is mentioned three times (v.1, 7), “fall” is mentioned four times (v.1, 4, 5, 8), “struck down” once (v.2), “wounded” in v.3, being “thrust…through” with a sword twice (v.4), death is mentioned four times (v.5, 6, 7), strip or stripped twice (v.8, 9), cut off once (v.9), and “fastened” or “nailed” in v.10.

All of this death and destruction matter, not to tell of the blood bath or paint a gruesome picture or even to tug at our heart strings, even though it does. It matters because of what was previously said.

Heart

Previously, when Samuel was roused from death, YHWH’s word was clear: 1 Samuel 28:19 “Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”” It’s a sobering reminder that

Isaiah 40:8 ESV

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

It is more sure than the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. And while we find here in an unhappy fulfillment, there is still an odd comfort that can be found. God’s purpose will stand, and even the darkness that has fallen on Israel…on Saul…on His servants and on His sons…still serves the plan of God.

God’s Honor is at Stake

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What takes place in verses 8-10 is really a bit…gruesome…over the top? The Philistines come out to strip the dead, and they find Saul and his sons. They proceed to desecrate their bodies, cutting off Saul’s head and stripping his armor. They nail his body to the city wall at Beth-shan and hang his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth. They share the news like brutal evangelists, believing that they’d actually defeated YHWH in the process. Is it true? Had the idols actually won? Could God not protect His king? If the people of YHWH were so utterly defeated, then surely their God was, too! Davis’ word picture is spot-on: “…pagan evangelists were running all over Philistia chanting, ‘YHWH is a loser!’”

Heart

If that last line doesn’t quite settle right with you, good. It didn’t for me, either, when I was typing it. I even had a nervous pause that I was writing something blasphemous. But then again, I think that’s sorta the point. Is this text sad? Sure, but maybe in ways that we do not quite reckon with at first. The most heartbreaking thing in this passage is not Jonathan’s death or Israel’s defeat — it’s the contempt shown for the name of our God.

So let us pause for a moment. Do we consider the fact that God’s honor is reflected in the lives we live? Here’s what I mean: what lengths do we go to in order to ensure that God’s name is honored as holy? What about your individual life proclaims to others, “God is holy and worthy of honor?” What about the things we stand for collectively as Christ followers, the church as a whole? Do we accurately model and portray both the holiness of God and His utter worthiness of our worship?

Ps.29:2 calls us to worship the Lord dressed in the splendor of holiness or “clothed in holy attire,” dressed in the deeds of righteousness that cause others to praise our Father in heaven. What might these be? The Spirit’s natural fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control, meekness, spiritual humility and brokenness, hungering and thirsting for the things of God over and above the things of this world, sacrificial giving and living, community, faithfulness, and joy in the Lord when joy in the world cannot be found.

This is what it means to have as our top priority God’s honor. This is what makes us different than the world. This is what proclaims our allegiance to Christ over and above the world.

God’s People Are Grateful

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There is an attitude of “ought” on display as the chapter closes that proves to be instructional for the people of God. The people of Jabesh-gilead heard of what had happened, particularly of what had been done to Saul — maybe the effectiveness of the pagan proclaimers — and their “mighty warriors” kit up and mount up, into the night to Beth-shan. Their mission was a simple one: retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons, bring them back to Jabesh, and burn and bury the bodies beneath the tamarisk tree. After a successful mission, they fasted for seven days.

Why would they risk it? I’d say it’s because they’d never forgotten what Saul had done for them. It’s been a few months now since we covered chapter 11, but that’s where we read of Saul’s rescue of Jabesh-gilead. The people were threatened by Nahash the Ammonite, someone who was as brutal as the Philistines. Saul, in the Spirit’s power, came to their rescue. Here, they simply return their debt of gratitude.

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I like this line I came across in my study: “Gratitude carries its own ‘ought,’ whether it changes anything or not.” Retrieving the bodies of Saul and his sons didn’t change the tragedy on Mt. Gilboa no more than the women returning with burial spices changed the death of our Lord. Gratitude offers the love it can whenever it can. Here, gratitude would not allow the dead bodies to be further disgraced. It was the love that could be offered.

Honestly, the Christian life is one that is lived out of gratitude. The first J.D. Greear sermon I ever listened to was on CD — kids, ask your parents. He’d preached at a North Carolina Baptist Association evangelism conference, and Roger Wall, our pastor, got a copy of it. J.D. served in the same town — Durham — that our church was in. His contextualization of Romans 12 is something I still lean on in teaching today. When Paul rolls into the “application” portion of his letter, he draws on the entire gospel of sin and grace, the whole Romans road, the great sinfulness of man and the greater mercy and grace of God, and says,

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

I really like the CSB: “in view of the mercies of God.” In light of this glorious gospel of grace, our “reasonable service” (KJV) is to honor Christ with our lives. Grateful hearts respond in worshipful lives.

Conclusion

We come to the end of the book, and it closes on a somber note. Why not press on, find some happier grounds, and rejoice together? As it stands, the leadership is ruined, the territory is lost, the people are eviscerated. Israel is…scattered like sheep without a shepherd. And honestly, looking back on it, for every slain giant there’s a dead son of a priest, for every promising victory there’s raging king. Samuel’s dead and buried. God’s kingdom has been rocked by one failure after another. We know that David’s on the come-up, but he’s still in Ziklag.

Sorrow…

Sorrow…

Sorrow…

But, not all is as it seems.

YHWH has chosen for Himself a Shepherd who is greater even than David. He has chosen for Himself a King who is greater as well. While things may look bad at the moment, dismal in the shadows of Mt. Gilboa, remember that it’s not what man sees that’s important. For there would be another day when things looked bleak, dark, and hopeless, too. There was another day when the light had ceased to shine. There was another day when God’s people lost their King, but it was only for a moment. Three days later, the darkest of nights turned to the brightest of days as Christ the King returned victorious.