1Samuel, chapter 31, comments

 

1Samuel 31:1 ¶  Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2  And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3  And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. 4  Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. 5  And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6  So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7  And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

 

As Samuel had told Saul the battle went against him and he and his sons would not survive it. Saul died by his own hand as his armor-bearer refused to kill the king. The Philistines achieved a complete rout of the Israelites and conquered territory. The fact that Saul fell on his own sword will be important as 2Samuel opens up.

 

1Samuel 31:8 ¶  And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. 9  And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. 10  And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. 11  And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 12  All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13  And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

 

As we saw in the episode with David and Goliath the way fallen warriors were treated could be horrific. One only need to read about Achilles’ treatment of the Trojan hero, Hector, in The Illiad after he had killed him to see that a warrior in those days could expect that if he was killed in battle unless his friends grabbed his body quickly his corpse might be treated in a grisly fashion.

 

Ashtaroth is a derivation of the goddess Astarte who is the Canaanite version of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, patron goddess of immigrants and prostitutes, who it is said by some had her great temple in Babylon called the Shining House or the White House. A version of Ishtar stands in New York Harbor welcoming the “troubled masses” to the United States.

 

The inhabitants of Jabeshgilead owed Saul mercy. Go to 1Samuel, chapter 11, to see how Saul had come to their rescue. They now showed him mercy by their respectful regard for his remains.