1 Samuel 31- Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Sam 31:1-13

1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.

4 Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.’

But the armour-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together that same day.

7 When 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.

8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armour, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among their people. 10 They put his armour in the temple of the Ashtoreths and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

11 When the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their valiant men marched 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. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

A. Find Out:    

1. Who was fighting who? v.1
2. Who was killed first? v.2
3. How did Saul die? v.3,4
4. What happened along the Jordan valley? v.7
5. What did the Philistines do to Saul? v.8-10
6. What did the men of Jabesh Gilead do? v.11,12

B. Think:

1. Read again 26:10 How was that fulfilled?
2. What do you think the Lord felt about Saul’s death? See Ezekiel 18:32
3. How do you feel about Jonathan and Saul’s death? Why?

C. Comment:

     The end has come for Jonathan and Saul! What a tragedy! As we’ll see tomorrow David did not consider this a time for rejoicing, in fact quite to the contrary, and so should we!

      First consider Saul. Here was a man who had known the blessing of God on his life (see again 1 Sam 10:1-7), had a godly prophet who could be his counsellor to guide him, and yet who totally blew it all by his disobedience. He became, instead of a great and godly king, a man haunted by fears, paranoid about David’s successes, and a mere caretaker of Israel. When you compare what-could-have-been with what actually happened, it was a tragedy.

      Then there was Jonathan. Here was a gallant and courageous young man, whose heart knit with David’s, who had the potential of being a leading commander in a glorious army, if his father had only turned out differently, or even in the light of his father’s failure, he could have joined David and been an inspiration to him! Instead he remained in the place where the blessing of God had departed and ended up dying at the hands of the enemies of God. Again, when you consider what-could-have-been, this is a tragedy.

D. Application:

1. It’s never to late to reject second best and go all out for God!
2. Don’t look back and grieve what was; go afresh for what might be!