1 Samuel 31: The End of Saul's Reign in Israel
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 the 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.
“Now the Philistines fought against Israel;' whilst David was engaged against the Amalekites. So he returns to the history, which had been interrupted to give an account of David’s concerns.” (Matthew Poole)— “‘And the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.’— It was probably whispered among the Israelitish troops that Saul had received a communication from Samuel, and that their defeat and their leader’s death had been foretold. This would unnerve their bravest heroes, and spread terror among all. And after his return from that midnight conference with the witch of Endor Saul himself could have had no spirit to fight.” (Whedon's Commentary on the Bible)
“’Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul’— Heb., ‘Clave to him’; sat close upon his skirts: fighting neither against small nor great, so much as against him, as their capital enemy, the destroyer of their country, that had slain many of them, as 16:24.” (John Trapp)— ‘and [after] his sons.'"
"'And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.’— David had prophesied, (1 Sam 26:10) that either the Lord should smite Saul; or, his day should come to die; or, he should descend into battle, and perish; and now the day was arrived. The preludes to his death were most distressing. He beholds his army routed, his faithful soldiers slain, and his three sons killed by his side. - Even Jonathan, the lovely, and beloved Jonathan, is slain also. Perhaps the Reader may be inclined to wish that this affectionate friend of David, had been spared. But not so. God's thoughts are not our thoughts; nor our ways the Lord's ways. Yet Reader! do not forget, that though in this solemn visitation, that is common to all men, there is one event in this scene, to the righteous, and to the wicked; yet the righteous hath hope in his death.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
“God [alone] maketh them [the deaths of the two classes] to differ, [Malachi 3:18] as the harvest man cutteth down the good corn and the weeds together, but for a different purpose…” (John Trapp)
“The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers,’ Then Saul said to his armorbearer, ‘Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it’ etc… Saul, when sorely wounded, and unable to resist or to flee, expressed no concern about his salvation; “but only desired that the Philistines might not insult over him, or put him to pain [as to Samson in an earlier time],… As it is the grand deceit of the devil, to persuade sinners, under great difficulties, to fly to this last act of desperation, it is well to fortify the mind against it, by a serious consideration of its sinfulness before God, and its miserable consequences in society. But our security is not in ourselves. Let us seek protection from Him who keepeth Israel. Let us watch and pray; and take unto us the whole armour of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Matthew Henry)
“’A truly brave man,’ says Delaney, ‘would have died fighting, as Jonathan did, or would, at worst, have gloried at being abused, and even tortured, for having done his duty!” (Joseph Benson)Yet Saul was a reprobate who died for the transgression of having sought after a medium for advise (1 Chronicles 10:13 )—and he died "in his trangressions.” (John Trapp)
“’But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid [as well]. Therefore Saul took the sword and fell on it. And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.’ Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” (James 1:15)
Thus ended Saul and his kingdom: His sons and all his family, as well as many wicked and righteous men in Israel, but particularly all Saul's hopes, "died with him that night on Mount Gilboa. And it is still a conspicuous moral, as well as historical, event, on which we may well pause to look across the ages. Saul brought down thousands with him when he fell, but he had been lowering the tone of the spiritual nation almost from the time when he began his reign. The people had, indeed, got in him what they asked for— a king like unto their neighbours.” (Armstrong Black) “That was the end of the man who had once had the Spirit of God and had been filled with power from above. Those who forsake the Lord are truly forsaken, and therefore in the end have no comfort, no help in the hour of death, but go their way into eternal destruction.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)
“Saul and his armor-bearer died by the same sword.— That his armor-bearer died by his own sword is out of all doubt; the text expressly tells us so; and that Saul perished by the same sword is sufficiently evident. 'Draw Thy sword, says he to him, and thrust me through'; which, when he refused, Saul, says the text, took ‘the sword’, (החרב את eth hachereb, the very sword), and fell upon it. What sword? Not his own, for then the text would have said so; but, in the plain natural grammatical construction, the sword before mentioned must be the sword now referred to, that is, his armor-bearer's, 1 Chronicles 10:4, 1 Chronicles 10:5. Now it is the established tradition of all the Jewish nation that this armor-bearer was Doeg, and I see no reason why it should be discredited; and if so, then Saul and his executioner both fell by that weapon with which they had before massacred the priests of God.” (Dr. Delaney)
1 Samuel 31: The End of Saul— the People’s Choice
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.
“‘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.’ A distinction is here made between the ‘men of Israel’ who were non-combatants and dwelt east of the field of battle, and the ‘men of Israel’ who formed the army.“ (Lange Commentary) “‘On the other side of the Jordan’ —
This phrase constantly means the eastern side of the Jordan, nor need we doubt but that the people living near it abandoned their homes and fled; for the river would form but a slight protection for them in this northerly part of its course.” (Pulpit Commentaries) Israel forsook their cities and fled— “It was very natural for the people in the towns and villages there to take fright and flee, for had they waited the arrival of the victors, they must, according to the war usages of the time, have been deprived either of their liberty or their lives.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
Thus, “the northern part of the land of Israel, in other words the whole land with the exception of Peraea and the tribe-land of Judah, came into their hands when Saul was slain.” (Keil & Delitzsch) “‘One sinner destroyeth much good.’ When Israel’s king was madly rebellious, Israel was smitten, and its inheritance diminished.” (Alexander McLaren)
“‘And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain,’ to take their garments, jewelry, and weapons as booty, ‘that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa.’” (Paul Kretzman) “‘And they cut off Saul’s head, and stripped off his armour.’— just as he had feared they would do to him, if caught alive. “They served him in like sort as their champion Goliath had been served: that they might cry quittance with him. Men love to retaliate.” (John Trapp)
“‘They put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth’ - As David had done in placing the sword of Goliath in the tabernacle...” (Adam Clarke) of Yahweh to whom each attributed credit for their victories. “The triumph of the Philistines is complete. Saul’s body is held up to scorn in the idol-house of the Philistines… The people’s choice, King Saul, has gone down in ruin and shame. All looks hopeless now.” (Arno Gaebelein)
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.
Ah but the “brave midnight march of the men of Jabesh from their home on the eastern uplands beyond Jordan, across the river and up to Bethshan, perched on its lofty cliff, and overlooking the valley of the Jordan. It was a requital of Saul’s deed in his early bright days, when, with his hastily raised levies, he scattered the Ammonites.” (Alexander McLaren) They burned the body- a picture of the annihilation of the wicked. "Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh," which signified Israel's resurrection hope- "'and fasted seven days.' to testify their sorrow for the public loss of Saul, and of the people of God; and to entreat God’s favour to prevent the utter extinction of his people." (Matthew Poole) “Israel’s hope centers now in the coming king after God’s own heart, David the son of Jesse. [This was Yahweh's choice.] How he foreshadows the true King and His coming Kingdom, He who is the hope of Israel, the hope of the world, as well as the hope of the church, we shall find in the second book of Samuel.” (Arno Gaebelein)