A Tragic End..

1 Samuel 31:1-13 

    1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. 3 The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.”  But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.
    7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10 Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
    11 Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Saul took Israel to battle as their enemy the Philistines attacked.  The dead prophet Samuel told him he would certainly be killed along with his sons (1 Samuel 28:19) because he rejected the LORD and lived in disobedience instead.  Now the battle has come and he is mortally wounded with an arrow.  Saul could not get his armorbearer to finish him off before being caught and tortured, so he fell on his own sword, probably knowing that his three sons had also been killed already.  The armorbearer joined him and Israel’s army dispersed and fled the battle and their cities, which were then taken back by the Philistines.  They cut off Saul’s head as a trophy of victory and nailed his body to the wall until it was recovered along with those of his sons and burned, burying their bones afterwards and fasting because of the loss of their king.  We see here a lesson in rejection of the Lord God and the consequences as a leader and a people when doing so; there is a price to pay beyond mere defeat in a war, for those who reject the gospel will likewise face eternal punishment and defeat for their sin which is rejection of saving faith in Jesus Christ (John 6:29, 3:18, 12:48).  Romans 5:9 ensures us we are saved from this inevitable justice and wrath of punishment by Jesus Christ’s blood spilled in our stead as the perfect sacrifice to cover all sin, and Romans 5:18 clarifies this by stating it was Jesus’s work which justifies us for unending life before Him as Romans 6:23 makes decidedly clear.  A receiving belief in who He is and what He has done guarantees life because of and based on Christ’s work alone (John 1:12-13), not our great deeds.  We then do not reject but believe and receive as our obedient work for deliverance from the final battle to come, our sin and death and judgement (1 Thessalonians 1:10).  Our tragic end of rejection can be transformed into a glorious beginning by this obedient faith!  The gospel answers the bad news of our own tragic end with a certain hope of unending mercy and grace through the obedience of faith.