According to the word of God spoken by Samuel (1 Sam. 28:1919Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 28:19)) Israel falls before the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. The three sons of Saul—Jonathan is one of them—perish. Saul is the last one remaining. He had been very much afraid at Samuel’s announcement of judgment (1 Sam. 28:2020Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. (1 Samuel 28:20)), he had been afraid and his heart had greatly trembled at the presence of the Philistine army in the presence of the bare preparations for judgment (1 Sam. 28:55And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. (1 Samuel 28:5)); how much more so when judgment is being executed: “He was much terrified by the archers” (1 Sam. 31:33And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. (1 Samuel 31:3)). Thus from the moment when the sinner finds himself before God’s judgment all his strength leaves him and gives place to terror. “It is a fearful thing falling into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:3131It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31)), when having made a profession of faith one has then given it up. Saul wishes to die in order to escape this nameless anguish and he only hurls himself into an agony of a quite different nature, into the torments of the invisible realm where the worm never dies and where the fire is never quenched.
“Draw thy sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me” (1 Sam. 31:44Then said Saul unto his armorbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. (1 Samuel 31:4)). The words “these uncircumcised” express even at the point of death his outward religion based on his disdain of those who were not Hebrews. As for Saul’s circumcision, could it save him? Is it not rather circumcision of heart that God respects?
Saul and his armorbearer take their own lives in order to escape the enemy’s abuse. The fear of God, had it been before their eyes, would have prevented them from doing so. A dead Saul does not feel the abuse but undergoes it nonetheless. The Philistines behead the king and may think that they have taken their revenge for the death of Goliath. Saul’s armor is placed in the house of Ashtaroth (1 Sam. 31:1010And they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. (1 Samuel 31:10)), apparently proclaiming the victory of their idols over the true God. A similar thing took place when the ark was taken. Israel flees, the enemy capture their cities and establish themselves there. Jabesh-Gilead, once saved by Saul (1 Sam. 11), shows pity upon the dead, but God remains silent as though indifferent to all this ruin; one might believe He had been overcome by man.
This book is like the end of everything. Here we see the end of the priesthood, of the judges, of kingship according to man. Everything crumbles; God allows it, for this is exactly what is necessary. Everything must fall before David. Let him abide: that is enough. This defeat, this judgment, this ruin of man are for God the dawn of the reign of the beloved!
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