1 Samuel 31

The Philistines fought against Israel. The men of Israel ran away from them, and many were killed on Mount Gilboa.

1Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.

NoteThe Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain southwest of Israel, organized around five main cities. Through this whole period they were Israel's chief military rival. Mount Gilboa is a ridge in northern Israel, overlooking the wide Jezreel Valley.

2The Philistines chased Saul and his sons hard. They killed Saul's sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Melchishua.

2And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul’s sons.

3The fighting grew fierce around Saul. The archers caught up with him and wounded him badly.

3And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.

4Then Saul said to the man who carried his weapons, "Draw your sword and run me through with it. If you don't, these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me." But the man would not do it, because he was terrified. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

4Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

NoteAn armor-bearer was a soldier's personal attendant, who carried his spare weapons and shield and stayed at his side in battle. It was a position of close trust. "Uncircumcised" was a contemptuous Israelite term for foreigners: circumcision was a mark of belonging to Israel, and the Philistines did not practice it. The word behind "torture me" (KJV "abuse me") means to deal wantonly with someone or make sport of them; it covers mockery and mutilation as well as torture, and the text does not narrow it down.

5When the man saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him.

5And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

6So Saul died, and his three sons, and the man who carried his weapons, and all his men. They all died together that same day.

6So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

7The Israelites who lived along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan River saw that Israel's army had run away and that Saul and his sons were dead. So they left their towns and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them.

7And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

Note"The other side of the Jordan" means the east bank of the Jordan River. Israelite families lived on both sides, so the collapse of Saul's army left settlements on a wide front undefended.

8The next day the Philistines came to strip the dead of their weapons and belongings. They found Saul and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.

8And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.

NoteStripping the dead after a battle was normal practice. Armor, weapons and personal goods were valuable, and the victors took them as a matter of course.

9They cut off Saul's head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent word all through the land of the Philistines, to announce the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.

9And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.

NoteCarrying a defeated king's head and armor around the country, and announcing the news in the temples, was how a victory was publicised and credited to the winning side's gods. The head and armor served as proof.

10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

10And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.

NoteAshtoreth was a goddess worshiped widely in Canaan and by the Philistines; the plural form here may refer to several images of her, or be a general word for the goddesses of the region. Beth-shan was a fortified city at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, controlling the road down to the Jordan, roughly ten miles from Mount Gilboa. Hanging an enemy's body on the city wall put the defeat on public display.

11The people who lived in Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul.

11And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;

NoteJabesh-gilead was a town east of the Jordan. Saul's first act after becoming king had been to march to its rescue when an Ammonite army besieged it and demanded that every man there lose his right eye (told in chapter 11). The town owed him for that.

12All their brave fighting men set out and traveled all night. They took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons down from the wall of Beth-shan, carried them to Jabesh, and burned them there.

12All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.

NoteIsraelites normally buried their dead whole; burning a body was unusual and elsewhere associated with punishment. The text does not say why they did it here, the bodies had been mutilated and exposed for some time, which may be the reason.

13Then they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and they went without food for seven days.

13And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

NoteThe Hebrew names the tree specifically: a tamarisk, a hardy tree that grows in dry ground. Going without food for seven days was the formal period of public mourning.