Saul's Bitter End & David's Bitter Grief - 1 Samuel 28 - 29
Prayer: Lord God, you know physical death is difficult for us to grapple with, our perspective is earthly while Earth is our home. Though we know there is an eternity ahead we struggle with the painful circumstances of this temporary physical realm. It's even harder Lord when the death is that of one who is not of Your faithful... there is a part of us that cries out for that person to have one more chance, so as we grapple with death help us Lord to trust you to be the one who is completely competent and fair to Judge those who have passed from this life into eternity.
We've come to a bitter & tragic passage this week, Saul & his forces are facing horrendous odds against a much larger & more powerful foe - the Philistines, and this time God is not on Saul's side.
1 Samuel 31 v1-10 (NIV), compare to 1 Chronicles 10 v1-10 (NIV):
What additional detail does Chronicles give? Saul's head hung in the temple of Dagon.
What a tragic end for Israel's first king. Remember how he started? He was a bit timid but trying to do what God had asked of him. But how did he end? He sought out a medium, an act that is in defiance of God, he refused to bow his will to God's, and in his last moments refused to turn to God and trust his life in God's hands - instead he did what he'd habitually done, took matters into his own hands, sought to control the situation instead of submit, and took his own life. Saul wanted control, Saul wanted to decide his own fate, and Saul got a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy - an eternity separated from God and all that is good.
Lets look at what else we learn from this passage:
v2: Jonathan, David's best friend & Saul's son, dies at the hand of the Philistines.
v3: Saul was critically wounded.
v4: Saul asks his armor bearer to kill him, he wouldn't so Saul killed himself. Note: a common practice of the day was to humiliate and mutilate prize victims - the Philistines had done so previously to Samson during the time of the Judges (Judges 16:21-25).
v5: The armor bearer, seeing Saul is dead, takes his own life.
v7: Israelites living in the area flee & the Philistines take over their towns.
v9: Saul's head is cut off, messages of victory are spread throughout the Philistine territory - giving honor to their gods.
v10: Saul's armor is hung as a trophy in the temple of the Ashtoreths, Saul's body is fastened to the wall of the city of Beth Shan (likely the outer wall of the city, displayed as a sign of strength & victory), and Saul's head (1 Chronicles) is fastened in the temple of Dagon.
1 Samuel 31 v11-13 & 1 Chronicles 10 v11-12: A group of valiant Israelite men from Jabesh Gilead put themselves at great personal risk to travel to the city of Beth Shan to retrieve the bodies of Saul & his Sons - apparently the sons were also fastened to the city wall. It doesn't mention them going into the temples (which would have been a suicide mission) so I can't help but conclude that they didn't recover the armor, and that they didn't recover Saul's head. They burned the bodies, this was not common practice in that day - it's believed this was done to prevent the bodies from being further abused by the Philistines should they be captured & the bodies recovered. The bones were taken back to Jabesh (in Israel) and buried, and a time of fasting & mourning occurred.
Why would this group of Israelites risk their lives to spare Saul's body from further humiliation? Hadn't Saul been a harsh & cruel leader? The answer to this takes us back to 1 Samuel chapter 11, when Saul was still young and useful to God - it records that the Spirit of God came upon Saul and he was empowered to save the people of the city of Jabesh Giliead, and kept them from being mutilated by the Philistines. (1 Samuel 11:1-11)
1 Chronicles 10 v13-14: Saul's death marks the tragic end of a life that refused to submit to God, and Saul's death will result in something Saul desperately tried to prevent: David's rise to be King over Israel... but we're not there quite yet.
2 Samuel 1 v1-3: David and his men have returned from rescuing their people and getting plunder from the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag while they were away. Its now two days later and a bedragled messenger arrives to bring David the news about the Philistine war against Israel. That this messenger isn't exactly a friend, despite the fact that he bows down before David, can probably be seen in his statement in verse 3 that he "escaped the Israelite camp".
v4: David wants more details, so he presses this man for information, only to learn that his old nemesis Saul, and his best friend Jonathan, have fallen in battle; additionally, he learns that Israel has suffered great losses.
v5-10: David wants the details, so he continues his inquiry. We find out some interesting things here:
v6: According to the messenger Saul was wounded but alive when he arrived.
v8: The messenger is an Amalekite - this is the same people group that David has just defeated in battle.
v9: According to the messenger Saul asked this man to finish him off.
v10: According to the messenger he killed Saul, and took his crown & arm band to bring to David.
I say "According to the messenger" because there are some problems with this guy's story. He was an Amalekite hanging around a war between the Philistines & Israel, this raises interesting questions all alone. He claims to have been the one asked to finish off Saul, but that was the armor bearer. He claims to have come upon Saul alive & killed him presumably as an act of mercy, but it is more likely that he was there as a scavenger to loot the bodies. He doesn't appear to know that David has just come back from defeating other Amalekites. He does have the crown and arm band, its possible that he thought he could win favor with David & perhaps be rewarded.
v11-12: David and his men respond properly to the news of the demise of Saul, Jonathan, the Israelite army and the Israelite people. They tear their clothes, mourn, weep, and fast.
v13-16: The messenger is still hanging around hoping to profit from his actions, but he couldn't have been more wrong. He didn't understand that the King he had looted & claimed to have killed was God's anointed, and he didn't understand how David would react to anyone acting against God's anointed. The messenger's miscalculation & misunderstanding of God's people & God's ways cost him his life.
v17-18: David composed a Lament, a poem/song of grieving to remember this time, and ordered that his men be taught this lament of the bow - the bow was the most common weapon of Israel, it's possible that as part of the training in use of the bow the men would be taught this song. The text indicates that the song, or perhaps the order regarding the song (or both), were recorded in the Book of Jashar. We don't have this book as part of our scriptures, I don't know much about this book except that it's no longer known to be in existence, a later book by the same name is a known forgery. This book is also mentioned in Joshua 10:13 and from these references it is presumed to be a book of hymns and/or poems that form an account of Israel's early battles.
v19-20: David laments the fall of the mighty ones of Israel, he doesn't want the news spread that would cause Israel's enemies to rejoice.
v21: David desires that this place of defeat, where the mighty were defiled, become a place that is put to shame by being unable to be fruitful.
v22-23: David speaks respectfully of these two mighty warriors, Saul & Jonathan, father & son, who he knows would have fought valiantly & not turned away from battle.
v24: David laments for Israel, the loss of Saul & his men would be a loss for Israel as a whole - we know from the previous chapter they had already lost many fighting men as well as many cities.
v25-26: David laments his best friend Jonathan, a friend he dearly loved & missed.
v27: Israel's army is defeated, its leaders are dead, thus ends David's lament.
Closing Prayer: Lord, dealing with death of any kind is painful for us. Help us Lord to look at death with an eternal perspective. Help us to find joy in the fact that a believer's death is an eternal promotion to a life lived in paradise with you, but help us to never forget that death for an unbeliever is an eternity of torment - and let this knowledge spur us on to sharing your truths with the unbelievers in our lives. Amen!
Next week we will switch things up and start working through the book of Revelation for a while, so I thought I'd end this lesson a little differently and have us reflect back on what we've learned from the study of David so far:
1. What have you found interesting about David as a person?
2. What good qualities do you see in David?
3. Which of David's good qualities would you like to see in yourself?
4. What bad qualities do you see in Saul?
5. Which of these bad qualities do you see in yourself?
6. What have you learned about God through studying David's life?
7. What does studying about God through the lives of David & Saul teach you about how God would have you live?
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