Sermon Tone Analysis
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It’s the end of the story.
Well, sort of.
There’s another book of Samuel that continues the story, but for now, this is it for us.
We will, Lord willing, at some point in the future, come back and study 2 Samuel.
But it’s the end of the story for now.
It actually is the end of the story for Saul.
For Jonathan and two more of Saul’s sons.
It’s the end of the story...
The end of Saul’s life comes pretty quickly.
The chapter has only 13 verses.
It’s a depressing tale.
It begins with the incredibly sad, matter-of-fact statement:
Hebrew narrative frequently gives such a terse summary (short summary) at the beginning of the story and then fleshes it out with details.
The details will follow.
The author doesn’t bury the lead.
We’re under no illusions.
The writer gives a blunt and bloody summary at the start.
At Gilboa the enemies of the Lord Yahweh (cf.
30:26) win the day.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Samuel 31.
Keep your Bible open here at the end of the story as we work our way through it this morning.
Look with me at the first few verses:
This has been coming for a while.
The inevitable Philistine/Israelite battle.
1 Samuel 28:1 “In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel...”
1 Samuel 29:1 “The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.”
I’ve got some good news for you, we have a map and I have a laser pointer!
[MAP]
In this battle here in 1 Samuel 31, as the prophet Samuel said they would, the Philistines win the day.
They overtake the Israelites, they pursue Saul and his sons, they kill Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua, and they critically wound Saul.
By “critically” the author means the Philistines got him good.
If this were a video game, Saul’s health would be down to the very bottom of the scale.
Here’s where the story goes from sad to really sad:
The sons of Saul are the first named casualties.
And this is certainly sad.
Especially where Jonathan is concerned.
We love Jonathan.
He’s a loyal and faithful friend to David.
Jonathan has stood up to his father, Saul, and has argued he do what is right.
We don’t know much, if anything, about the other two sons of Saul.
But here, they are done in.
Saul is, initially, just wounded.
But he knows this is it.
So he asks his armor-bearer to kill him so the Philistines don’t.
When the armor-bearer doesn’t kill Saul, Saul kills himself.
And then the armor-bearer follows suit.
Some comment that this is the honorable thing to do, that Saul is some sort of tragic hero.
And it might seem like that, culturally and historically.
I can see where they get that.
But the whole tenor of 1 Samuel (and the continuing witness of 2 Samuel) is that this, what Saul does, is not to be commended.
The Lord’s People are Different
Not “different” as in “weird”, though some of you … Just kidding.
Saul finds himself critically wounded.
This, he knows, is the end.
He’s also heard that he and his sons would die on this day, and here it has come to pass that his sons have been killed.
And Saul’s next.
Saul decided to take matters into his own hands.
When his armor-bearer wouldn’t, Saul does what he thinks needs to be done.
Peter Leithart writes, “Though [Saul] found many people to blame [throughout his life], Saul was thoroughly self-destroyed.”
Here’s the difference between those who aren’t the Lord’s people and those who are the Lord’s people.
At a moment of despair and disgrace, Saul despairs and surrenders to his fate, even hurries his fate alone.
David on the other hand, you might remember, when facing imminent death at the hands of his own men, David behaves differently.
David strengthens himself in the Lord his God.
Jonathan, throughout 1 Samuel, continually yields himself fully to the Lord, even to the point of humbly recognizing the throne of his father didn’t belong to him, but rather to David.
Very easily, at moments of difficulty and despair, people can crumble or even give up altogether.
The Lord’s people, when seeking strength from the Lord, won’t simply give up and give in.
They will endure.
Persevere.
Saul’s action here is not to be commended.
The Bible doesn’t give further commentary than that.
It mentions that it happens and continues on with the aftermath.
Let me step aside from the text for a moment and address the issue of suicide.
There are some people, well-meaning, who say if someone commits suicide, if someone kills themselves, there’s no forgiveness for that because that person can’t repent after that act.
Some would say suicide is a one-way ticket to hell.
I happen to lovingly and strongly disagree with that stance.
Either my forgiveness and justification rests of the quantity and quality and timing of my repentance OR my forgiveness and justification rests on the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
I’m certainly not advising suicide; in fact, quite the opposite.
Please don’t take your own life!
It’s a terribly selfish decision.
But please don’t say or believe something unbiblical in light of suicide.
The blood of Jesus covers all the sins of those who trust in and belong to Him.
Saul, here at the end of 1 Samuel, is far from the Lord.
His despair leads him to do something he shouldn’t.
The Lord’s people deal differently with despair and disgrace.
There’s never a moment, never a thought, never a care we can’t take to our Heavenly Father.
Despair is not the last word.
Depression doesn’t have to consume.
Seek the Lord and find Him.
He is not far from any who would call on Him.
In the midst of Saul’s fall, and the fall of Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua, we come to see, once more, the wonderful truth that the Word of God will not fall.
The Word of the Lord Will Not Fall
If you have been with us as we’ve journeyed through this book (31 chapters, and that many sermons), you can probably see the Word of God coming to pass as it’s been spoken and promised.
Back in 1 Samuel 28, Saul consults the medium at Endor and has her summon the dead Samuel.
Samuel speaks to Saul as he always did: as a spokesman of God with the prophetic power of the Word of God.
1 Sam 28:19 should be ringing in our ears as we read 1 Samuel 31.
The Word of Lord came about just as Samuel spoke it.
This is why all of this matters.
It matters because it happened.
But it really matters because the Lord, through His prophet, said it was going to happen and it happened.
Just as the Word of God announced the death of Hophni and Phinehas (Eli’s sons) in 1 Samuel 2:34 and it came to pass in 1 Samuel 4:11, so the Word of the Lord has done with Saul and his men.
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