1 Samuel 31: 1 – 13
Heroic acts
31 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 BethShan. 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.
Just the other night I was watching the news and I was quite moved by the U.S. Air Force released video that highlighted a firefight in which Air Force Tech Sgt. John Chapman made a final heroic stand to save the lives of fellow troops on a mountaintop in Afghanistan, an act of bravery that will earn him a posthumous Medal of Honor later in August.
Taken from an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft flying overhead, the video shows Chapman’s relentless counterattack on al-Qaeda fighters in the battle of Takur Ghar mountain. The battle was part of Operation Anaconda, a series of engagements led by CIA paramilitary officers and U.S. special operations troops that sought to root out and destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in the Afghanistan’s Shah-i-Kot Valley.
Chapman, an Air Force combat controller, and six members of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 had landed on the 10,000-foot peak to rescue another SEAL, Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, who had been stranded there in an aborted mission just hours before.
The team almost immediately came under withering fire from three directions. Alongside SEAL Chief Britt Slabinski, Chapman charged ahead, engaging multiple enemy positions and killing two al-Qaeda fighters who were firing from a fortified position.
As the battle raged on, Chapman moved ahead to cover the SEAL team’s advance and began taking fire from another enemy bunker. He managed to take out the fighters in their fortified position, but was struck by a burst of gunfire that left him critically wounded and incapacitated.
Under fire and believing that Chapman had been killed, the SEAL team retreated from the peak to let an Air Force gunship finish off the remaining al-Qaeda fighters.
Chapman soon regained consciousness and began to fight again. Despite grievous wounds, he engaged multiple enemy fighters for more than an hour, some in hand-to-hand combat. In his final act, Chapman provided covering fire for an incoming quick reaction force, until he was shot in the chest and killed.
President Donald Trump will present the Medal of Honor to Chapman’s wife, Valerie Nessel, and his family in a ceremony at the White House on Aug. 22. It will be the first Medal of Honor awarded to a member of the Air Force since the Vietnam War.
Slabinski, the SEAL chief who led the rescue mission, was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 24 for his actions at Takur Ghar. He is the second living SEAL to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in the Afghanistan war.
In today’s study we are going to read about some other people who defied danger and in a heroic act went and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons that were mockingly displayed by the Philistines.
It is a sign of the deep spirituality of David that while he had known from his youth, through no choice of his own (that he was destined for the kingship, and had been thrust by God, and by his own deep regard for God’s honor, into being the Champion of Israel, he had made no push to hurry the situation along, even when Saul had played into his hands. Rather he had patiently waited for God’s time. He had been one of Israel’s most successful field commanders, acting only out of loyalty to both Yahweh and Saul, and had later weathered all the misfortunes that had been thrust on him by a jealous and suspicious Saul, without once portraying any particular ambition to take over the kingship by force, although at the same time, in the latter stages, he undoubtedly did seek to prepare the way for that kingship, both through his marriages, and through his behavior towards the people of Israel and the elders of Judah.
The death of Saul and his three fighting sons, and the circumstances in which it occurred, was a tragedy for Israel. To many he had been a beloved, and often successful king, and the overwhelming defeat now to be described would leave a large part of Israel under Philistine control, and Saul’s remaining and rather inept son cowering in Mahanaim, reigning over what was left of Israel by permission of his uncle Abner, commander of the forces of Israel. It would, however, also open the way for David’s appointment as King of Judah, for the elders of Judah clearly recognized that with the Philistines in control of central Israel, and Eshbaal (Ishbosheth), Saul’s remaining son, being restricted to Mahanaim, only David and his small but powerful army could provide them with any kind of protection, a decision undoubtedly precipitated by David’s own arrival with his men. It had the additional advantage that his position as vassal to the king of Gath made him acceptable to the Philistines. They had no objection to him reigning as their vassal. (This is really the only explanation as to why they took no measures against him after his appointment). He was thus now vassal king over both Ziklag and Judah, Ziklag from this time on always being a part of Judah.
Today’s scripture concentrates on the overwhelming victory of the Philistines over a depleted Saul, and his subsequent death, along with his three fighting sons, on Mount Gilboa, with the concentration undoubtedly on the latter fact. It commences with a very brief description of the battle, and a more detailed description of the deaths of Saul and his sons and ends with a dirge written by David as he mourns their deaths.
Yet even during the tragedy the Holy Spirit focuses on two acts of nobility, the first the bravery and loyalty of the men of Jabesh Gilead in daringly rescuing the body of Saul from its ignominious situation of being displayed on the walls of Bethshan (31.11-13). Even in defeat the Israelites are gaining a kind of victory over the Philistines, who would have no idea where the body had gone. And the second the genuine grief of David concerning the whole event. There is no reason for doubting the genuineness of this latter. He loved Jonathan like his own soul, and his love for Israel could also have resulted in nothing but grief in the light of all that had happened, while the fact that Saul was Yahweh’s anointed would in itself have been sufficient to explain his grief over Saul’s death. Thus, he would undoubtedly have shared in the grief of all Israel, even though he did recognize what it meant for him. He also appears to reveal himself as having a genuine appreciation of Saul, as in his dirge he calls to mind his nobler characteristics.
Because this subsection comes where it does we tend to see it as focusing on a tragic end as a kind of summary of the book. But that is to misunderstand the situation. Our Holy Spirit did not see it as coming at the end of anything. He saw this final disposal of Saul as bringing about the upward move of David from being petty king of Ziklag and victor over the Amalekites, to being king of Judah, and then of all Israel, and final victor over the Philistines. It was thus a further stepping stone in the onward triumph of Yahweh. And even in this defeat Yahweh would emphasize that He could not be overlooked (31.11-13)
The centrality in the important heroic deed of the men of Jabesh Gilead will be noted. It was not just added in as an afterthought. It was an indication that while Israel might be down, they were not out.
31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
We are told is that the Philistines fought against Israel and that the men of Israel fled over Mount Gilboa where they were systematically slaughtered. The emphasis is not in the details of the battle, only in the consequences of it for Israel.
We are even left in some doubt as to whom ‘the men of Israel’ were. They would undoubtedly include Saul’s standing army, and it may well be that it was mainly these who suffered as they bravely bore the main brunt of the rearguard action, while what was left of the ‘volunteer’ army escaped over the Jordan under the leadership of Abner, the overall general of the army (verse 7; 2 Samuel 2.8-9). Saul’s supreme bravery comes out, both in his being an important part of the rearguard action, and in the fact that he fought at all, given the fact of what he had learned from Samuel through the medium of Endor.
Verse 7 would also suggest, either that the full muster of the tribes had not yet arrived. An alternative possibility is that they had been kept in reserve at the other side of the valley to intervene when called on. Either way the defeat of Israel’s main army was clearly so conclusive that they played no part in the battle, and then recognized that their only course, with Saul and his sons dead, was to disappear as quickly as possible, leaving the cities of Israel wide open to the Philistine invaders. They knew that further resistance would be useless and would only bring reprisals on those cities.
2 Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.
Playing a valiant part in the rearguard action Saul’s three warrior sons, fighting in the forefront, died bravely in action, while Saul also found himself hard pressed and had not retreated from the battle.
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
Saul was apparently behind the units commanded by his three sons, as a second line of defense, and he and his men now found themselves under heavy bombardment by the missiles of the archers who had been able to come up on them because of the destruction of the first line of defense. It was clear to Saul that the situation was lost and that he would be unable to evade capture. It must also be almost certain that he had been wounded by arrows that had found their target. Thus, the thought of being overtaken and abused by the uncircumcised Philistines, who would undoubtedly satisfy their blood lusts on him, and would at the same time humiliate him as the king of Israel, was too much for him, and he cried to his armourbearer to thrust him through, rather than allowing the Philistines to do it. He knew that death or worse was inevitable. He preferred therefore to die on a good Israelite blade rather than on a Philistine one. At least he would prevent their enjoying that triumph.
His armourbearer, however, refused to do it through fear. The fear was probably because he considered that to slay Yahweh’s anointed would be a grievous sin. Alternately he may have been afraid of what might happen to him afterwards, for it was his duty to preserve Yahweh’s anointed at all costs. Either way he would not do it. Saul therefore took his own 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.
Once the armourbearer saw that Saul was dead by his own hand he followed his example, and thus died with him. This may have simply been out of a kind of loyalty to his master, although it could have included remorse because, as his personal bodyguard, he had failed, through no fault of his own, to preserve his master’s life. The shame may have been too much for him. He may even have feared the later consequences if he survived. The Philistines might have seen Saul’s armourbearer as a good substitute for Saul himself, thus bringing shame on Saul by proxy, while he may have felt that if he survived intact he might equally suffer shame at the hands of the Israelites for failing to keep Saul alive.
6 So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.
The slaughter on the Mount was so complete that Saul, his three sons, his armourbearer and all ‘his men’ (his standing army) died there with him on that same day, thereby avenging all the misery that they had brought on David, and destroying any hopes of Israel’s survival as an independent nation. Without this central force Israel could put up little resistance against an enemy like the warlike Philistines. They had been Israel’s nemesis in all the wars with the Philistines through the years.
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.
We see here that the forces of Israel, who had been mustered from the most northerly tribes and from Transjordan, in order to assist in the fight against the Philistines, but had not taken part in the battle, fled.
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.
The day after the battle the Philistines returned to the battlefield to survey the dead and strip from them anything that might have value. This was the normal practice after a victorious encounter. And there, on Mount Gilboa, above the plain of Jezreel, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons.
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.
As Saul had anticipated, the Philistines sought to humiliate what remained of him. They cut off his head and sent it throughout the land of the Philistines in triumph, prior to setting it up in the temple of their god Dagon (1 Chronicles 10.10).
10 Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of BethShan.
They stripped off his armor and set it up in the house of their goddess Ashtaroth, probably in Bethshan. And they displayed his body on the walls of Bethshan. This was the only way of ensuring that all knew that he really was dead. Verse 12 informs us that they did the same with the bodies of his sons for a similar reason. But there was no doubt that there was also in it an intention to gloat over their dead enemies. It was a display of their triumph, and a warning to all who opposed them.
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.
It is difficult to over emphasize the bravery of these truly valiant men of Jabesh-gilead. They made their way by night to a Philistine stronghold, no doubt well-guarded and well watched (even though the city gates would have been barred and bolted for the night), and they stole the trophies of the Philistines from under their very noses. Had they been caught they would undoubtedly have been shown no mercy, for the very absence from the walls of these bodies would have been a body blow to the Philistines. It declared to all that they were unable to guard their own city and would make them a laughingstock for miles around. It would mar the completeness of their victory. Indeed, every Israelite around about who learned what had happened would have rejoiced at what some unknown Israelites had done.
Furthermore, it is clear that these brave men were expecting the very real possibility of repercussions, for their unusual act of burning the bodies (but not the bones) suggests that they were protecting the corpses of Saul and his sons against the possibility of recapture and further mutilation. It is also clear that all who knew who was responsible for the action maintained their silence, possibly even in the face of some brutality, so that the Philistines had no idea who had done this dreadful thing. It was not to be until much later that the details came out, and by then it would be too late for the Philistines to do anything about it.
13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Then the men hurriedly bore the bodies back to Jabesh to do them honor (this was clearly the reason for taking them back, otherwise they could easily have buried them not long after leaving Bethshan). Once at Jabesh they burned the bodies, although not the bones. This was unusual as Israelites preferred burial. But they clearly wanted there to be no danger of the bodies being retrieved by the Philistines.
And the bones they buried under the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh. This was probably a local landmark and seen as a kind of local sacred spot from of old (1 Chronicles says ‘under the terebinth’). Perhaps the evergreen nature of the tree was symbolically life-imparting. It was an indication of the honor in which they held Saul and his sons that they buried them in such a prominent place. But no outsiders would have known where to look. And they then fasted for seven days, a further honoring of Saul’s name and also a sign of mourning. Even this was a very brave thing to do. No doubt rumors would gradually filter around as to what they had done, for to the Israelites it would seem like a taste of victory in the face of defeat. But by the time that they reached Philistine ears (if they ever did) it would be too late for them to do anything about it, especially without any kind of evidence.
