The Book of 1 Chronicles

Word Study

"abuse," Hebrew alal (עָלַל), to deal severely with, to make a mockery of. The Chronicler passes over Saul's whole reign, told at length in 1 Samuel, and begins his history at its tragic end. The Philistines rout Israel on Mount Gilboa, and one by one Saul's sons fall, including Jonathan, David's beloved friend, whose loss must have grieved David deeply. Saul, "wounded of the archers," fears being taken alive and mocked (alal) by "these uncircumcised," and asks his armourbearer to kill him. When the man refuses out of fear, "Saul took a sword, and fell upon it." So ended the reign of the man the people had demanded, "a king to judge us like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5); he died by his own hand on a lost battlefield, and his armourbearer with him. The stark summary, "So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together," marks the collapse of the whole dynasty in a single day. Israel's cities were abandoned to the Philistines. The first experiment in kingship, begun in the people's rejection of God as their King, ended in disaster, clearing the way for the king after God's own heart.

Explanation

The account opens with a crushing defeat. The Philistines overwhelmed Israel at Mount Gilboa, and the Israelite soldiers fled and were slain. The enemy pressed hard after Saul and killed three of his sons, including Jonathan. Saul himself was badly wounded by archers, and fearing capture and humiliation, he asked his armor-bearer to run him through. When the terrified man refused, Saul fell on his own sword, and his armor-bearer did the same. Saul, his sons, and his household perished together that day. Seeing the rout and the death of the king, the Israelites in the region abandoned their towns and fled, and the Philistines moved in and occupied them. It was a total collapse.

Gospel Focus

The end of Saul is a sobering picture of a life that begins with promise and ends in ruin because it drifts from God. Saul had once been humble, standing head and shoulders above the people, anointed and given "another heart" (1 Samuel 10:9), yet he turned from obedience, and his story closes on a battlefield of his own undoing. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and a reign that started in the flesh could not stand. Yet even here the grace of God is at work behind the tragedy, for the fall of Saul makes way for David, the man after God's own heart, and beyond David for the true King, Jesus, whose throne shall never fall. The contrast is deliberate: the first king took a sword and fell upon it to save himself from shame, but could not; the true King took the shame of the cross and laid down His own life to save others, and rose triumphant. Where Saul's death was the collapse of a kingdom, Christ's death was the founding of one that cannot be shaken. Learn from Saul not to trust in flesh, position, or your own beginning, but to walk in obedient dependence on God to the end, keeping near to the King who never falls.

Word Study

"the temple of Dagon," Hebrew bet Dagon (בֵּית דָּגוֹן), the house of the Philistine grain-and-fish god. The morning after the battle, the Philistines strip the dead and, finding Saul, cut off his head and take his armour, sending word "to carry tidings unto their idols, and to the people." They put his armour in "the house of their gods" and fastened his head "in the temple of Dagon." This was a religious triumph in their eyes: they credited their idols with the victory, just as when they had once captured the ark and set it before Dagon, only to find Dagon fallen on his face before it (1 Samuel 5:1-4). Their gloating over Saul's severed head displayed at Dagon's temple is the very "abuse" Saul had dreaded. But grace and honor appear from an unexpected quarter. "All the valiant men" of Jabesh-gilead, remembering that Saul in his first act as king had rescued their city from the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11), made a daring night march, recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons, gave them honorable burial "under the oak in Jabesh," and "fasted seven days." Gratitude does not forget. These brave men repaid an old kindness with courage and reverence, honoring even a fallen king because he had once delivered them.

Explanation

The day after the battle, the Philistines came to plunder the dead and discovered Saul and his sons. They stripped Saul, cut off his head, took his armor, and spread the news throughout their land, giving the credit to their idols. They displayed his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. But when the men of Jabesh-gilead heard how the Philistines had dishonored Saul, all their valiant men set out, retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons, brought them home, buried their bones beneath the oak at Jabesh, and mourned with a seven-day fast. They acted out of gratitude, for Saul had rescued their city at the very start of his reign, and they would not let his body be left in disgrace.

Gospel Focus

Two responses to the fallen king stand side by side: the mockery of the Philistines, who paraded his head before a dead idol and gave their false god the glory, and the devotion of the men of Jabesh, who risked their lives to honor him because he had once saved them. The world glories over the fallen and credits its idols; the grateful heart remembers kindness and repays it with courage. The valiant men of Jabesh teach us gratitude that does not forget, love that acts at cost, and honor that endures beyond death, and their fast shows a reverence for God's anointed even in his failure. But the deeper note is the folly of the idol's boast. Dagon, before whom Saul's head was hung, was the same god who had fallen helpless before the ark of the LORD; every idol is nothing, and every triumph credited to them is a lie. There is one God, the living LORD, who "killeth, and maketh alive" (1 Samuel 2:6), and who would soon overthrow the Philistines by David's hand. Do not fear the boasting of the world's dead gods; honor the kindnesses done you, act in courage and love, and give all glory to the one true God who alone holds life and death in His hand.

Word Study

"a familiar spirit," Hebrew ob (אוֹב), a medium or the spirit consulted through one. Now the Chronicler gives the theological interpretation of everything he has just narrated. Behind the arrows and the sword lay the real cause: "So Saul died for his transgression (ma'al, the same word for unfaithfulness that explained the exile) which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not." Saul had repeatedly disobeyed God's clear word, sparing what God said to destroy and offering sacrifice he had no right to offer. Worse, at the end he sought guidance from "one that had a familiar spirit" (the medium of En-dor, 1 Samuel 28), consulting the dead rather than the living God, a sin expressly forbidden and worthy of death (Leviticus 20:6).

"enquired," darash (דָּרַשׁ), to seek, to consult. The double indictment is sharp: he "kept not" the word of the LORD, and he "enquired not of the LORD" but of a forbidden spirit. Therefore, the text says with startling directness, God "slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David." The Philistine arrows were the instrument; the LORD was the ultimate cause. Behind human history stands the sovereign hand of God, who removes and sets up kings according to His righteous will.

Explanation

The Chronicler closes by explaining why Saul really died. It was not merely a military defeat but the judgment of God for Saul's persistent unfaithfulness. He had broken faith with the LORD by disobeying His clear commands, and at the last he had sought guidance from a medium who consulted a familiar spirit rather than seeking the LORD Himself. Because of this, God put him to death and gave the kingdom to David the son of Jesse. In other words, the arrows and the sword were the means, but the true cause was God's righteous judgment on a king who had abandoned Him, and through that judgment God advanced His plan to establish David's throne.

Gospel Focus

God's verdict on Saul cuts to the two roots of his ruin: he "kept not" the word of the LORD, and he "enquired not of the LORD." These are still the two great dangers for any soul. To know God's word and not keep it is to build on sand (Matthew 7:26-27); and to seek guidance anywhere but from God, whether from mediums, horoscopes, the counsel of the world, or our own hearts, is to repeat Saul's fatal error. "There shall not be found among you any one that... useth divination... or a consulter with familiar spirits... for all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). The living God has given us His word and invites us to seek Him: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find" (Matthew 7:7). The tragedy of Saul is a summons to obey the word we have and to seek the LORD alone. And behind the judgment shines God's sovereign grace: even Saul's fall served to "turn the kingdom unto David," and through David's line came the King who always kept His Father's word and always did His Father's will, Jesus Christ. The God who removed the disobedient Saul and raised up faithful David is the same God who exalts His obedient Son to a throne that shall never be turned to another. Keep His word; seek His face; trust His sovereign hand.