1 CHRONICLES - CHAPTER 10
David Becomes King – 1 Chronicles 10:1-12:40
The End of King Saul’s Family – 1 Chronicles 10:1-14
v1 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelites ran away from them. They killed many Israelites on Mount Gilboa. v2 The Philistines fought hard against Saul and his sons. They killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua. v3 The battle was fierce round Saul.
The soldiers with bows shot him with their arrows. They struck him and they hurt him. v4 Then Saul spoke to the soldier who carried his armour. ‘Take your sword and kill me. If you do not kill me, the Philistines will make fun of me. Then they will kill me.’ But the soldier would not do it because he was afraid. So, Saul took his own sword and he fell on it. v5 The soldier saw that Saul was dead. So, that soldier too fell on his own sword and he died. v6 Saul and his three sons died. So, Saul and all his sons died together. v7 The Israelites in the valley saw that their army had run away. They heard that Saul and his sons were dead. So, they left their towns and they ran away. Then the Philistines came to live in these towns.
v8 The next day, the Philistines came to strip the dead soldiers. They found Saul and his sons dead on Mount Gilboa. v9 The Philistines stripped Saul’s body and they took his head and his armour. Then they sent men through all their country. They went to tell the news of Saul’s death to their false gods and to all the people. v10 The Philistines put Saul’s armour in the temple of their false gods. And they hung Saul’s head in the temple of Dagon.
v11 All the people in Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul. v12 So, all the brave men from Jabesh went and they got the bodies of Saul and his sons. They brought the bodies to Jabesh. They buried the bones under the large tree in Jabesh. Then the people in Jabesh did not eat for 7 days.
v13 Saul died because he was not loyal to the LORD. He did not obey the LORD. He even asked advice from a woman who inquired of the spirits of dead people. v14 He went to her and he did not ask the LORD for advice. So, the LORD caused his death. And the LORD gave the kingdom to David, who was Jesse’s son.
COMMENTARY
VERSE 1
The Philistines were a group of people that lived to the south-west of Israel. Their country was by the coast. They had been enemies of Israel since the time of Joshua. They fought against King Saul (the first king of Israel) and the army of the Israelites. The Philistines had come as far as Mount Gilboa. Mount Gilboa is at the head of the valley called Jezreel. Jezreel is a very large valley that goes from the west to the east of Israel. Beyond this valley, the Philistines would reach the river Jordan.
This was the last time that the Philistines advanced so far into Israel. About 7 years later, David defeated them.
VERSES 2-3
The battle went against Saul and his army. In other words, the Philistines were defeating the Israelites. The Philistines killed Saul’s three sons. The Philistine soldiers shot Saul with their arrows but they did not kill him.
VERSES 4-5
Saul was afraid that the Philistines would catch him. If they did then they would be cruel to him. They would make fun of him. They would insult him. And in the end, they would kill him in a very cruel manner. He thought it better that he should die immediately. But the soldier who was with him would not kill him. This man was too afraid to kill Saul. He could not kill his king whom he respected. Perhaps he was also afraid of the effect that Saul’s death would have on the Israelites. So, Saul killed himself with his own sword. When the soldier saw Saul’s death, he too killed himself.
VERSES 6-7
The people saw that the Philistines had defeated their army. They heard that Saul and his 3 sons were dead. So, they ran away from the Philistines. And the Philistines took control of the towns across that region.
All Saul’s sons died in this battle except Ish-Bosheth. We can read about him in 2 Samuel chapters 2 to 4. He became the king of Israel after Saul’s death, but the tribe of Judah made David their king.
VERSES 8-10
The Philistines found the body of Saul. They cut off his head and they took off his armour. They put the armour in the temple of Astarte. Astarte was their god of sex and war. Then they hung Saul’s body on the walls of Bethshan (1 Samuel chapter 31). Bethshan was a city between Gilboa and the river Jordan. They put Saul’s head in the temple of the god Dagon.
VERSES 11-12
The people in Jabesh Gilead were loyal to Saul. 30 years earlier Saul had saved them from the army of Ammon. It was very dangerous, but the men of Jabesh went to Bethshan. They took the bodies of Saul and his sons and they brought them back to Jabesh. There they buried the bodies (1 Samuel chapter 11).
VERSES 13-14
Saul killed himself, but actually, the LORD caused his death. Saul suffered this punishment because he had not obeyed the LORD. Saul began to act in this manner long before when Samuel was God’s prophet. Saul did not do as Samuel had told him. Samuel told him to wait for him to come. But Saul did not wait and he made a sacrifice to God. From that time, the LORD said that Saul would lose the kingdom. After Samuel had died, Saul tried to contact him. He went to a woman who inquired of the spirits of dead people. To do this is against the word of the LORD (see Deuteronomy 18:9-14). These are just two times when Saul did not obey the LORD. But there were many other occasions. Saul had not been loyal to God for most of his rule (1 Samuel chapter 15).
Saul made three very serious errors:
• He was not loyal to God.
• He did not obey God.
• He did not come to God for advice.
The LORD gave the kingdom to David. On Saul's death, the people of Judah made David their king. Israel’s northern tribes accepted Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth as king for seven years. After Ish-Bosheth's murder, the people made David king of all Israel.
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