THE DEATH OF KING SAUL

PROCLAMATION

“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.”  1 Samuel 31:4 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God after the death of the prophet Samuel by Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer.  After David and his men had been sent home, the Philistines fought against the Israelites.  Losing the battle, the Israelites turned and fled with the Philistines in hot pursuit.  Three of Saul’s sons were killed and Saul himself was critically wounded by an archer.  Saul told his armor bearer to kill him but he was terrified and would not do it.  So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it and died.  Seeing that Saul was dead, his armor bearer then took his own sword and fell upon it and died.  Saul and his sons and all of his men died on the same day as the prophet Samuel had predicted. (1 Samuel 31:1-6)  When the Israelites saw that their army was defeated, they abandoned their towns and fled.  The Philistines came and occupied them.  When the Philistines found the bodies of Saul and his sons on Mount Gilboa, the cut off Saul’s head and stripped him of his armor.  They put his armor in the temple of Ashtoreths and hung his headless body and the bodies of his sons on the wall of Beth Shan. (1 Samuel 31:7-10)  When the men of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, they went at night and took their bodies off of the wall.  They took their bodies to Jabesh and burned them, then they buried their bones and fasted for seven days. (1 Samuel 31:11-13)

 

APPLICATION

There are those among us who are more concerned with how they die than they are with how they live.  They want to die with dignity, even though they did not live with dignity.  There are a lot of people who want their homegoing service to be held in the church even though they were not active members of the church.  They want to be respected, in life and in death, even though they did not respect others.  The Bible says, “… for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)  Whatever we give out is what we will get back in return.