1 Samuel chapter 31 describes the end of the life of King Saul. We are left with a feeling of wasted potential. Saul was a man that had it all from a human perspective. He was rich, handsome, tall and successful. He was “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites a head taller than any of the others“(1 Sam 9:2). Saul was missing the humility necessary to recognize that he was first a servant of God. Saul’s pride prevented him from developing a personal intimacy with God; this ultimately cost him everything. Even though “The Spirit came upon him with power” when he first received his anointing, (1 Sam 10:10) he neglected the study of God’s written Word and his relationship withered. Saul’s failure cost him personally, but it also cost his sons and the nation as a whole. The chapter begins; “The Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.” It was not even a contest. “The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua“. “The fighting grew fierce around Saul and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically“. You can imagine Saul was easy to spot, being taller than anyone and, in his shiny armor; he must have been an easy target for the archers. Pride makes us easy targets for the enemy.
Mortally wounded, Saul asked his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and… abuse me“. Afraid that he might be judged for his actions, “his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it… [his armor-bearer] fell on his sword and died with him“. Even at the end of his life, Saul’s thoughts are only for himself. There is no prayer, or thought of God, or any sign of repentance. Samuel’s prophesy had come true. “So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day.” We sense the emptiness at his death, and the entire nation suffered. “The Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.” The Philistines made an example of Saul, “they found Saul and his three sons fallen… They cut off his head and stripped off his armor … They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan“. Without hope we become an empty shell and a symbol of the enemy’s victory. But with God there is always hope!
When the “valiant men” of Jabesh Gilead heard of Saul’s humiliation they journeyed through the night to Beth Shan. “They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burned them. Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.” God always leaves a remnant of believers to continue the faith. Faith causes us to look to God rather than ourselves. Hebrews 12:2 encourages each of us; “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God“. No matter how you started, look to Jesus that you will finish well!