1 Samuel 31:1-13 - The True and False King

1 Samuel 31:1-13

The Tragic End of Saul and His Sons (1 Chronicles 10:1–14)

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.

The end of a regime marked with disobedience and rejection of God came as king Saul died in a battle lost by Israel under his reign.  His disobedience had led the LORD to leave him and became His enemy as he fought against the anointed of God, the real king David given by the divine hand for having a heart after God.  This final battle was of defeat under Saul’s rule as the Philistines had routed Israel and had them on the run, killing Saul’s sons to include Jonathan who was David’s closest friend, and left Saul dying on the battlefield.  He tried getting his own armorbearer to finish him off, but that man wisely refused to do that to the one in rule over the nation and so Saul fell on his own sword as we say.  The enemy then cut off the king’s head and hung it in victory for all to see in the idol temple.  The bodies of Saul and his sons were recovered by the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead and cremated, burying their bones in Jabesh and fasting for a week afterwards in memorial.  The end of Saul was the result of his turning away from God and His will to do things his own way instead, a stark warning to us all not to turn from the Lord, but from sin and towards Him, the definition of real repentance leading to redemption in Christ of the lineage of David as the promised Branch (Isaiah 11:1-2, Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15, 16) of righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 3:9, 2 Peter 1:1) who is the Anointed Son of God Himself.  Certain victory over the adversary is in Christ alone by grace and faith alone through repentance and following the King of kings (1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 19:16) who rules forever in the heavens as the one chosen by the Father to rule in righteousness and not picked by men according to earthly reasons such as appearance like Saul was.  The Lord puts kings in place and removes them (Daniel 2:21, 4:17, Romans 13:1) at His command and not our own.  There are true and false kings.  The Son of God, the earthly branch of God’s chosen and anointed David and the heavenly Branch of God’s righteousness is out true Anointed and victorious king, not a faulty one of our own choosing like Saul destined to fall and fail.