1 Samuel 31:1-13: The Death of Saul

1 Samuel 31:1-13: The Death of Saul

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next—and final—passage we come to is 1 Samuel 31:1-13. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what 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 Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, we’re told that there are different kinds of soils on which the seed of your Word falls—thorny soil, rocky soil, soil on a path, and good fertile soil. And it’s only when the seed falls on that last kind of soil that it actually produces fruit. So, please, help us to be that fertile soil this morning, so that the seed of your Word can take root and bear fruit in our lives. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.When we speak of learning from example, we typically mean learning from someone’s positive example about how we should live or the kinds of things we should do. And it’s very important and biblical for us to learn from positive examples in that way. As the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Yet I’d like to suggest this morning that it’s just as important for us to learn from negative examples about what not to do as it is for us to learn from positive examples about what we should be doing. I imagine most of us already do this instinctively as we encounter various people who have brought tremendous harm upon themselves through the decisions they’ve made. 

For example, think about someone who’s become addicted to drugs and whose drug habit has destroyed their life in many ways. Perhaps they’ve become so enslaved to their addiction that they’ve stolen money from their friends and family in order to buy more drugs. Perhaps their appearance also has radically changed. Instead of appearing healthy and full of life, they now look 25 years older than they really are and have eyes that seem hollow and lifeless, a gaunt face, sunken cheeks, and skin that’s covered with scabs and blotches. It’s truly such a sad sight to see. And whenever we encounter someone who’s been so ravaged by a drug addiction, though we should absolutely have deep compassion for them, it’s also very wise and appropriate for us to take careful note of that negative example so that we don’t end up traveling down the same path.  

We also encounter plenty of other negative examples as well—people who make unwise decisions and end up paying the price for those decisions in a variety of ways. Maybe one of our coworkers is dishonest and therefore loses their job, or maybe a friend of ours gets intoxicated and does something they later regret, or maybe someone we know cheats on their spouse and does terrible harm to their marriage. 

Not only that, as we look at the Bible, there are plenty of negative examples there as well. In fact, 1 Corinthians 10:6 tells us very directly that many of the characters and stories of the Bible have been recorded in the Bible specifically because of their function as negative examples. Paul tells us, “Now these things [referring to the rebellion of God’s people in the Old Testament] took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

And that’s exactly the kind of thing we find in today’s main passage of 1 Samuel 31—a negative example that should serve as a warning for us. The main idea of this passage is that Saul’s untimely death highlights his failures in life and leadership. Again, Saul’s untimely death highlights his failures in life and leadership.

As we’ve gone through the book of 1 Samuel these past few months, we’ve read quite extensively about these failures. And we now see them culminate in the tragic death of Saul at the hands of the Philistines. So, I’d first like to walk through this passage together and then identify some lessons we can learn from the life—and death—of Saul. 

So, let’s first walk through the passage beginning with verse 1: “Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.” This is precisely what the prophet Samuel had predicted would happen several chapters earlier. The Israelites and the Philistines fight against each other in a massive battle, and things don’t go well at all for the Israelites. They’re routed by the Philistines and forced to flee for their lives. 

Yet, as if that weren’t bad enough, it gets worse in verse 2: “And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul.” So, there goes Saul’s dynasty right there. His sons, who would be in line to inherit the throne, are killed.

However, even that isn’t the end of it, because things get even worse in verses 3-4: 3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 

And it’s in this way that Saul’s life comes to a tragic end. One of the features of this account that I find most striking is how matter-of-fact the passage is in telling us what happened. It doesn’t dramatize Saul’s death or even elaborate on it—because it doesn’t have to. After all we’ve read about Saul, the significance of his death is quite apparent. Saul’s failures in life and leadership have finally caught up with him—and culminate in him taking his own life after being mortally wounded by the Philistines. 

It's also interesting to think about what we don’t read about Saul doing in this passage. For example, we don’t read about him crying out to God—either in lament or in a plea for mercy. Instead, Saul simply seems to have resigned himself to fact that he’s going to die and that there’s nothing he can do about it. So, perhaps the absence of any mention of God in this passage is deliberate and corresponds to the absence of any inclination within Saul’s heart to seek God during his final hours. 

After that, we read in verses 5-7, 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. 

Some of you may recall from way back in 1 Samuel 9:16 the purpose for which Saul was originally made king. God said that he was making Saul king in order to “save my people from the hand of the Philistines.” Yet here in our main passage, we see how utterly Saul failed in doing what God had called him to do. Instead of the Israelites being saved from the Philistines, they’re forced to abandon their cities and flee from the Philistines, with the result that the Philistines simply walk into the Israelite cities of that area and begin to live in them. 

We’re then told in verses 8-10, 8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 

So, the fact that Saul takes his own life, in the end, doesn’t stop the Philistines from mistreating his body. They cut off his head, strip off his armor, and fasten him to the wall of the city of Beth-shan as a gruesome spectacle for all to see. 

However, we do read at least one encouraging thing in this passage in verses 11-13, 11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what 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 Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days. 

Back in 1 Samuel 11, Saul had courageously delivered the people of Jabesh-gilead from what appeared to be a hopeless situation. When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were surrounded by the Ammonites, Saul courageously and skillfully engaged the Ammonites in battle and saved the day. He came up with a brilliant attack plan and defeated the massive Ammonite army against all odds. It was certainly one of the high points of his kingship. 

And the people of Jabesh-gilead remember what Saul had done for them and desire to honor him for it. So, in our main passage, they courageously venture out under the cover of night into Philistine territory and remove Saul’s body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and bring the bodies back to their town of Jabesh-gilead and burn the bodies in order to prevent them from being subjected to any further dishonor. 

This noble act of bravery is a wonderful reminder for us of how God can use even deeply flawed people—like Saul—to accomplish his purposes in the lives of others. Even though I think we have to consider Saul to be a failure in his overall kingship, he nevertheless made a lasting impact on the people of Jabesh-gilead and did something genuinely good for them that they didn’t forget about even after his death.

And as we consider Saul’s life as a whole here at the end of his life and the end of the book of 1 Samuel, it seems very appropriate to reflect back on Saul’s life and the principles and lessons we can glean from it. So, with the time we have left, I’d like to briefly share six of those lessons with you. 

First, starting well is no guarantee of finishing well. Toward the beginning of the narrative in 1 Samuel, Saul actually demonstrated a certain degree of godly character. When the prophet Samuel invited him to a feast as his guest of honor prior to anointing him as king, Saul humbly replied in 1 Samuel 9:21, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you spoken to me in this way?” In addition, Saul was initially rather reluctant to be appointed as king. When the Israelites gathered together in order to proclaim him as king, 1 Samuel 10:22 records that Saul actually hid himself among the baggage. He wasn’t chasing after royal power but was instead reluctant to accept it. 

And even when some people who are described in 1 Samuel 10:27 as “worthless fellows” questioned Saul’s ability to be king and “despised” him, we’re told that Saul “held his peace” and didn’t retaliate against them in any way. Saul was also very deliberate about giving glory to God for his impressive victory over the Ammonites at Jabesh-gilead. Instead of taking credit for himself, Saul declared in 1 Samuel 11:13, “today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.” 

Yet, as we’ve seen over the past few months, even though Saul began well, he didn’t at all finish well. Likewise, I’m sure we’ve all known people who appeared to be very passionate about God when they first became Christians but who gradually drifted away from God and are now no longer walking with God—to the point that we have to wonder whether they were ever truly converted in the first place. D. L. Moody once said that “You don’t judge a ship by how fast it leaves the harbor, but by how safely it reaches port.”

So, to make it personal, what are you doing to help ensure that you not only start well as a Christian but also finish well? Are you immersing yourself in the Bible and seeking God in prayer on a daily basis? And are you deeply embedded in Christian community so that other Christians can help you and hold you accountable if you ever begin to deviate from the way the Bible teaches us to live? 

In addition, a second lesson we can learn from Saul’s life is that it usually takes time for a person’s true character to be revealed. Even though Saul did exhibit some godly character qualities toward the beginning of his life, there were also several early warning signs in his life of what would turn out to be some very significant character deficiencies in Saul such as insecurity, the fear of man, impulsiveness, rashness, and a focus on outward appearances. These warning signs were subtle enough at the beginning that they likely went relatively unnoticed. Yet over time, it became increasingly apparent that Saul was spiritually unqualified to be the leader of God’s people. So, again, the lesson we should glean from that is that it usually takes time for a person’s true character to be revealed. 

You know, there are some things in life that can be determined relatively quickly. For example, a good house inspector is usually able to tell you with a fairly high degree of accuracy most of the major things that are wrong with a house prior to you purchasing it. Yet that’s just not the way it works when it comes to assessing a person’s character. It simply takes time to truly get to know a person and observe how they behave in various kinds of situations and become aware of their true character. That’s because people naturally put their best foot forward toward the beginning of a relationship and are very good at hiding their character deficiencies. Even though there are almost always early warning signs of their character deficiencies, those warning signs are often subtle enough that they’re only noticeable over time. 

So, for those who are currently single and thinking about marriage, I highly recommend getting to know someone over the course of at least a year before getting married. And as we think about appointing additional elders in our church in the near future, I personally can’t imagine being comfortable with appointing someone as an elder until we’ve been able to spend at least a year getting to know them in relatively close proximity. And even in life in general, I just don’t feel like I truly know anyone until I’ve interacted with them and rubbed shoulders with them on a regular basis for at least a year. 

After that, a third lesson we learn from Saul is that partial obedience is disobedience. In 1 Samuel 15, God gave Saul clear instructions to destroy the Amalekites completely. He told Saul in verse 3, “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” Yet, instead of fully carrying out God’s instructions, we’re told in verse 9, “But Saul and the people spared Agag [the king] and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.” And that failure to fully follow God’s instructions was the beginning of the end for Saul. God informed Saul later in the chapter that he’d rejected Saul as king because of his disobedience. 

Likewise, it’s important for us to remember that partial obedience is, in reality, disobedience. You know, sometimes, we’re tempted to approach the Bible the way we approach a buffet. When you go to a buffet, you only put the kinds of food onto your plate that you desire to eat. You take some of what’s offered at the buffet and pass over the rest—picking and choosing which foods you’ll eat. And that’s the way a lot of people approach the Bible. They obey the commands they feel like obeying and just kind of ignore all of the other commands. Yet that’s really not an option for those of us who are Christians. 

So, take a moment and consider anything that might be lacking in your obedience to God. Is there something impure in your life that you’ve been tolerating? Have you been obedient in receiving baptism in the manner Jesus has instructed us to receive it? Have you been doing anything in your life privately that you’d be embarrassed if others in the church knew about? 

After that, a fourth lesson from Saul’s life is that an unwillingness to genuinely repent will ultimately result in our sin destroying us. One of the questions that came up in my Community Group a few weeks ago is why God rejected Saul as king but didn’t later also reject David as king. After all, the book of 2 Samuel records David sinning in ways that are arguably even more severe than the ways in which Saul sinned. So, why did God reject Saul but not David? And I think a key part of the answer is that David exhibited genuine repentance in the aftermath of his sin, whereas I’m not sure we ever see Saul exhibiting genuine repentance. 

In each of the instances in which Saul sins and is then confronted about his sin, he always makes excuses, blames other people, or finds some other way to avoid genuine repentance. For example, when Samuel confronts Saul about his disobedience in the passage we just looked at—1 Samuel 15—Saul replies, “But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And that example is representative of what we find Saul doing throughout his life—downplaying his sin, making excuses for his sin, blaming others for his sin, or simply denying his sin. And that failure to genuinely repent ultimately resulted in Saul’s sin destroying him. 

And that’s likewise what our sins will do to us if we don’t confess them, take responsibility for them, and turn away from them in genuine repentance. A Puritan pastor named Thomas Brooks once stated rather graphically that “Repentance is the vomit of the soul.” Think about that. “Repentance is the vomit of the soul.” Just as our bodies naturally respond to what they deem to be toxic substances within us by vomiting them out so that those substances don’t cause us further harm, it’s important for us vomit out our sin through repentance so that we don’t suffer the incalculable spiritual harm that our sins will inevitably bring.

Not only that, it’s often through other Christians that Holy Spirit brings our sins to our attention—just as he confronted Saul about his sin through the prophet Samuel. So, it’s very important for us to humbly listen to any concerns that Christians around us express about the way we’re living. As one author named Kaitlin Febles writes, “When others see our mistakes and give corrective feedback or a stern rebuke, we may stiffen with resentment, determined to try to preserve a reputation of excellence. We can be deceitful about our actions, gloss over our mistakes with our good works, or accuse others of persuading us to sin. This may cause our hearts to harden, our counselors to dwindle, our accountability to weaken, and our errors to propel us farther down a path of destruction. Instead, we can humble ourselves to acknowledge the truth in others’ reproof. With gratitude for needed correction, we can confess our sins to those we have harmed and, ultimately, to our merciful God.”

Next, a fifth lesson from Saul’s life is that jealousy functions as a poison to our soul. We’ve seen for quite a few chapters now that Saul was deeply jealous of David. His jealousy of David began in chapter 18 right after David killed Goliath and Saul heard the women of Israel singing that, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And Saul’s jealousy of David grew progressively worse from that point on—to the point that Saul was eventually consumed by his jealousy and driven to various kinds of irrational behaviors that would ultimately play a role in his own demise. 

Likewise, jealousy functions as a spiritual poison within our hearts as well. Just as physical poison diminishes our physical vitality, jealousy diminishes our spiritual vitality. It hinders us from being grateful for the ways in which God’s blessed us because we’re too busy resenting the ways in which he’s blessed others. 

In reality, those of us who are Christians have everything we need to be joyful and grateful because Ephesians 1:3 tells us that we already possess “every spiritual blessing” in and through Jesus. That means there’s not a single spiritual blessing God could have given us that he hasn’t given us by virtue of our union with Jesus. We’re therefore able to go through our lives not as empty people who are seeking to be filled but rather as those who are already full with the fullness that comes through Jesus. 

It’s in this way that, instead of being jealous of others, we’re able to do what Paul instructs us to do in Romans 12:15 and “rejoice with those who rejoice.” When our coworker gets a promotion instead of us, when our friend gets to go on an incredible vacation we wish we could have gone on, and even when someone else in the church gets pregnant even though we’ve been trying to get pregnant—in all of these situations, we’re able to genuinely rejoice in the blessings others enjoy because our own hearts are already full to the point of overflowing with the blessings we enjoy in and through Jesus. 

And finally, a sixth lesson for us to glean from Saul’s life—and death—is that God always keeps his promises. In 1 Samuel 13:14, God told Saul, “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” Then, in 1 Samuel 15:23, God again spoke to Saul through the prophet Samuel, “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” 

Samuel then says to Saul in verse 28, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” And finally, in 1 Samuel 28:19, Samuel was led by God to inform Saul, “Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me”—and that means “be with me” in death. And all of these predictions—or, we could say, promises—are fulfilled within the span of a few hours in our main passage of 1 Samuel 31. 

This is a valuable reminder for us that God always keeps his promises. And this includes both his promises of blessing for our obedience and his promises of punishment for our disobedience. One of the memories I have from my childhood is of by dad one time forgetting to discipline me. As far as I can remember, it’s the only time he ever forgot to discipline me, but I was pretty happy about it. I forget what exactly I did to deserve punishment—though I’m sure I did something. And just as my dad was about to discipline me for it, he got an urgent phone call and ended up being on the phone for quite a few minutes. Meanwhile, I strategically did the only thing I could think of to do and hid behind the living room recliner. And fortunately for me, it somehow worked. My dad actually forgot to discipline me. Needless to say, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world. 

But in all seriousness, God never forgets to bring upon us the punishment he’s promised. The threats of the Bible about future judgment aren’t empty threats. The warnings aren’t empty warnings. Even though the consequences of our sins might be long in coming—just as it took quite a few years for Saul to experience all the consequences for his disobedience—we can be sure that our sins will eventually catch up with us. God won’t fail to bring upon us the punishment our sins deserve in hell for all eternity. Justice might presently be delayed, but it won’t ultimately be denied. 

Thankfully, the God of the Bible is not only a God of justice and righteousness but also a God of love and mercy. And God loved us so much that he sent his own Son Jesus to rescue us from our sins. Jesus did this by entering our world as one of us—a real flesh-and-blood human being. Jesus then lived a perfectly sinless life and eventually allowed himself to be crucified on a cross. 

Just as Saul’s body was horrendously mutilated by his beheading, Jesus’s body was horrendously mutilated as he was whipped nearly beyond recognition. And just as Saul’s body was then fastened to the wall of the Philistine city of Beth-shan as an object of public horror and disgrace, Jesus’s body was nailed to the cross as a gruesome spectacle for all to see. Yet, at the same time, there was a critical difference between Saul’s death and Jesus’s death. Whereas Saul died for his own sins, Jesus died for our sins. Jesus suffered the penalty our sins deserved. 

Then, afterwards, just as the courageous men of Jabesh-gilead removed Saul’s body from the wall of Beth-shan in order to keep it from being dishonored any longer, a man named Joseph of Arimathea—at considerable personal risk—requested custody of the body of Jesus so he could give it an honorable burial in a tomb. Yet, of course, that’s where the stories of Saul and Jesus sharply diverge yet again—because, unlike Saul, Jesus was raised from the dead three days later and therefore now stands ready to rescue everyone who will put their trust in him. This involves us renouncing all confidence in ourselves and our own moral accomplishments in order to get right with God and instead putting our full confidence in Jesus to cleanse us of our sins and give us the free gift of eternal life. 

So, whereas Saul’s story unfortunately didn’t have a happy ending at all, your story doesn’t have to end that way. Instead, your story can have a happy ending—not only in this life but throughout all eternity—through Jesus and what he’s accomplished through his death on the cross.