The Strand Study Bible

I SAMUEL 30:27

529

I SAMUEL 31:13

and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 And 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. 9 And 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. 10 And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 And when the inhabitants of 6 Jabesh- gilead heard of that which 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 came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.

27 To them which were in 1 Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir, 28 And to them which were in 2 Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa, 29 And to them which were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the 3 Jerahmeelites, and to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, 30 And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in Chor-ashan, and to them which were in Athach, 31 And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men 4 were wont to haunt. READ NEXT - I Chronicles 1 - 9 I Samuel 31 The deaths of King Saul and Jonathan (S/A - I Chro 10) Date - 1050 BC/AM 2950 1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi- shua, Saul’s sons. 3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. 4 Then 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. 5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. 6 5 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. PF 7 And 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

1. Josh 19:4 2. I Chro 11:44 3. I Sam 27:10 4. or, “were once to have made their home” 5. See - I Sam 28:19 6. I Sam 11:1-11

MED SEA

Beth-shan

• Jabesh-gilead

The men of Jabesh-gilead retrieve the bodies of King Saul and his three sons Map #150 13 And they took their bones, and bur- ied them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

31:12 This is the first time “cremation” ( and burnt them there ) is addressed in the Bible. Because King Saul and his son’s bodies were rotting and diseased by the time the Israelites had retrieved them, the only reasonable thing to do was to burn them. Although the burning of people and corpses was usually restricted to certain crimes (Lev 20:14 & 21:9), and thus a sign of shame or public judgment (Josh 7:25), it had nothing to do with burying people. Typically, people choose to cremate their loved ones today because of economics, not crimes. Thus, cremation is probably not one of God’s great concerns. READ NEXT - II Samuel 4:4

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker