XXXI. (1 Samuel 31:1) Battle of Mount Gilboa — Death of Saul and his three Sons — Panic in Israel — The Philistines expose the King’s Body on the Wall of Beth-shan — The Citizens of Jabesh-Gilead rescue the Royal Corpse.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE PHILISTINES FOUGHT AGAINST ISRAEL. — The narrator here is very abrupt. No doubt a devoted patriot, it was very bitter for him to write the story of the fatal day of Gilboa. Yet there were certain things belonging to that fated day which were necessary for every child of Israel to know. It wa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PHILISTINES FOLLOWED HARD UPON SAUL AND UPON HIS SONS. — “The details of the battle are but seen in broken snatches, as in the short scene of a battle acted upon the stage, or beheld at remote glimpses by an accidental spectator. But amidst the showers of arrows from the Philistine archers,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE BATTLE WENT SORE AGAINST SAUL. — That is, after the death of Jonathan and his brothers. The great warrior king no doubt fought like a lion, but one by one his brave defenders fell in harness by his side; and the enemy seems to have directed their principal attention, at this period of the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ARMOURBEARER. — Jewish tradition tells us that this faithful armourbearer was Doeg_,_ the Edomite, and that the sword which Saul took apparently from the hand of the armourbearer was the sword with which Doeg had massacred the priests at Gibeon and at Nob. LEST THESE UNCIRCUMCISED COME AND THRU... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL HIS MEN. — We must not interpret this statement quite literally; 1 Chronicles 10:6 explains it by “all his house.” Ishbosheth, his son, for instance, and Abner, the captain of the host, we know were not among the slain on that fatal day. The meaning is that all his _“fideles,”_ his personal... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE VALLEY. — The words “on the other side of the valley” denote the country opposite to the battle-field in the valley of Jezreel, on which the writer supposes himself to be standing, the land occupied especially by the tribes of Issachar, Zabulon, and Napthali. The expression... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY FOUND SAUL AND HIS THREE SONS FALLEN IN MOUNT GILBOA. — It is expressly stated that the Philistines only found the royal corpses on the morrow of the great fight. So desperate had been the valour with which the King and his gallant sons had defended their last positions on the hill, that night... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY CUT OFF HIS HEAD, AND STRIPPED OFF HIS ARMOUR. — Only _Saul’s_ head and armour is mentioned here, but on comparing 1 Samuel 31:12, where the bodies of his sons are especially mentioned, it is clear that this act was not confined to the person of the king. The sense of the passage there is,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HOUSE OF ASHTAROTH. — Literally, _of “the Ashtaroth.”_ The expression may signify that the pieces of armour belonging to the four men were divided between the different shrines of Astarte in the land, or placed together in the famous Astarte Temple, at Askelon, which Herodotus (i. 105) describes... [ Continue Reading ]
THE INHABITANTS OF JABESH-GILEAD. — The memory of the splendid feat of arms of their young king Saul, when he gallantly rescued their city (1 Samuel 11:1) years before, when they were threatened with deadly peril by the Ammonites, was still fresh in the city of Jabesh-Gilead, and they burned to resc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BURNT THEM THERE. — This “burning the corpse” was never the custom in Israel, and was restricted to criminals convicted of a crime of the deepest dye (Leviticus 20:14). The Jews in all cases buried their dead. The Chaldee therefore interpret the words relating this act of the men of Jabesh-Gilea... [ Continue Reading ]
A TREE IN JABESH. — A tree, that is “the well-known” tamarisk (_êshel_). For Saul’s love for trees see as an instance 1 Samuel 22:6. The men of Jabesh-Gilead well remembered this peculiar fancy of their dead king, and under the waving branches of their own beautiful and famous tamarisk they tenderly... [ Continue Reading ]