1 Samuel 31:9-13

9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, 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 armor 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.

1 Samuel 31:9-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 31

This chapter gives an account of the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites, which had been preparing for, and the issue of it; in which Saul, his three sons, and his servants, were slain, upon which his army fled, and several of his cities were taken, 1Sa 31:1-7; what the Philistines did with his body and his armour, 1Sa 31:8-10; the former of which, together with the bodies of his sons, the men of Jabeshgilead rescued, and burnt them, and buried their bones under a tree at Jabesh, expressing great sorrow and concern, 1Sa 31:11-13.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 1:20; 2 Samuel 4:4
• 2. S Judges 16:24
• 3. S Judges 2:12-13; S 1 Samuel 7:3
• 4. S Joshua 17:11; 2 Samuel 21:12
• 5. S Judges 21:8; S 1 Samuel 11:1
• 6. Psalms 76:5
• 7. S Genesis 38:24; 2 Samuel 2:4-7; 2 Chronicles 16:14; Amos 6:10
• 8. 2 Samuel 21:12-14
• 9. S Genesis 21:33; 1 Samuel 22:6
• 10. 2 Samuel 3:35; 2 Samuel 12:19-23; 2 Samuel 1:12
• 11. S Genesis 50:10