We are officially at the end of our study of the book of First Samuel. What began with great promise and hope as the Lord miraculously gave Hannah her son, Samuel, who became a great prophet for the Lord, took an interesting turn when Samuel, a young boy at the time, confronted Eli for his failure to confront his sinful sons.

We knew in that moment, that Samuel would be a great and faithful prophet for the Lord. The story moved on where we observed Israel’s rebellion and rejection of the Lord as they demanded a king so they could be like the surrounding nations, Samuel grieved their rejection, and the Lord gave them their just desserts in King Saul.

Saul started with promise, but we quickly saw that he was just like his nation – rebellious and disobedient to the Lord. Time and time again, Saul failed to obey the Lord and continued to take matters into his own hands instead of obediently trusting God. The pinnacle of his rejection of God happened when he refused to wipe out the Amalekites. Samuel confronted him and informed him that his days were numbered, that someone else would replace him, and that he and his sons would eventually die as a consequence of his unfaithfulness.

In the midst of Saul’s rejection, God called and anointed David, through Samuel, as the new incoming King of Israel – chosen by God’s own heart. David has had his failures too thus far – taking two wives, and hiding out with Philistines – but David’s story is filled with repentance and obedient trust in the Lord. We could see David’s repentance clearly last week as he sought the Lord in humility after facing the consequences of his city being burned to the ground and his people being carried off into captivity. The result of his repentance was total victory over the enemy.

Today’s passage closes our study with a sobering look at the final, dark consequences of Saul’s rebellion and rejection of God. It is a straightforward, matter-of-fact description of the death of King Saul and the shame filled aftermath of his death. As we will see, this concluding story should be a warning to anyone who desires to persist in sinful rebellion against the Lord.

1Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain at Mount Gilboa. 2And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 6Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 7And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.

#1: THE DEATH OF SAUL (VV. 1 – 7)

The wages of sin are death, according to the book of Romans (Rom. 3:23), and that is exactly what we see in verses 1 – 7 of our text as Saul dies a horrible death as a consequence for his unrepentant sin.

Our passage tells us that the Philistines were laying waste to Israel, that Israel was running scared from the enemy, and getting killed on every side (v. 1). As Israel was retreating and generally getting their butts kicked in verses 1 – 2, the Philistines killed Saul’s sons and got Saul himself pinned down and badly wounded by arrows. In a last-ditch effort to save himself from further suffering and torture, in verses 4 – 5, Saul asked his bodyguard to take him out, but his bodyguard refused, leaving Saul no other alternative than to take his own life, which prompted his bodyguard to follow suit.

The author’s concluding statement to this first section in verses 6 – 7 is simple. Saul, his sons, his bodyguard, and all his men are dead, and when the rest of Israel realized the tragedy, they abandoned their cities and the Philistines invaded and took up residence there. Total invasion. Total death. Total defeat. Total annihilation. The enemy has won. All hopes have been dashed against the rocks of sin, rebellion, and rejection of God. As it pertains to the consequences of sin being death, shame always follows closely.

#2: THE SHAMING OF SAUL (VV. 8 – 13)

Just as Adam and Eve were filled with and even covered in shame once their sin became clear, shame is always slithering around in the mud of our sin, and in Saul’s case, his shaming came after his death in verses 8 – 13. The enemy is never content with getting God’s people to roll around in the mud of sin – he loves to heap on shame to make a spectacle out of the sinner, to humiliate God’s creation.

For Saul, the once-upon-a-time celebrated King of Israel, death was not enough for the enemy. Once the Philistines found Saul and his sons dead in verses 8 – 10, they cut off Saul’s head, they sent “the good news” of his death to their house of idol worship along with the rest of their nation, they placed his armor in another house of worship, and they nailed his body to the outer wall of one of their cities. 

The only real bright spot in our story is in verses 11 – 13 where we learn that some “valiant men” from Israel snuck into the Philistine’s territory, removed Saul and his sons bodies from the wall, brought them back to Israel, burned them, buried them under a Tamarisk tree, and fasted in mourning for seven days.

That is the end of First Samuel. Samuel is dead. David has been restored to the Lord and is off fighting the enemy. Saul and his sons are dead. Israel is in ruins, all because of her rejection of the Lord. This is the outcome of a life lived in rebellion against God.

KEY TAKE AWAYS…

As far as key take aways are concerned, one commentator notes that Saul’s death and shaming is “a most solemn warning for us to earnestly watch and pray that we may be preserved from both presumption and despair, and divinely enabled to bear up under the trials of life, and quietly to hope for the salvation of the Lord (Lam. 3:26)”.2 I agree, that in Saul we have a solemn warning and reminder to cling to Christ with every ounce of Spirit-filled strength we have in the face of Satan, Sin, and Death.

Another commentator helpfully notes that as Saul and his sons and the men of Israel are facing the consequences of their rebellion, David is simultaneously being restored to the Lord and experiencing victory over his enemies.3 In other words, the restoration of David and his Divinely enabled victory over his enemies from last week, basically runs concurrent with Saul’s demise.

It is as though the last two chapters of our study were intended to be visualized like one set of concurrent events on the same timeline – like a movie with two plotlines that come together at the very end with contrasting endings for each plotline.

In this case, David’s plotline ends with restoration and victory over the enemy, while Saul’s plotline ends with death and shame. The point is clear – there are two ways to live, repentant or rebellious. You can either live your life in rebellious self-reliance, or you can live your life in repentant submission to the One True King in Christ Jesus.

Let us not forget that like Saul, Jesus died too, but not for his rebellion, for our rebellion. Like Saul, Jesus was nailed, not to a city wall, but to a tree in front of everyone to see. Just as in Saul’s day, there were Philistines who carried their version of the good news of their enemy’s defeat to the ends of their empire, so too, in our day, we carry the everlasting Good News of the gospel that proclaims that unlike Saul whose bones are still buried, Christ left his tomb empty as he vanquished his enemies once and for all!4

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, the concurrent endings of First Samuel act as both a warning and a reminder. We are warned of sin’s destructive nature, and we are reminded of the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified, risen, and returning.

I think it is appropriate for us to end our study with a time of reflection, and repentance. We should each take some time to reflect upon the direction of our lives and the sins that so easily entangle us. We should remember what the cost of Calvary really was as Jesus gave his life willingly on our behalf. We should confess our sins honestly to the Lord. We should lean heavily on the truth that Christ’s shed blood and broken body is the offer of complete salvation, forgiveness, and cleansing from sin.

We should behold the power of the empty tomb and realize that if we have trusted in Christ, then our end will not be the same as King Saul. For all who are in Christ have inherited the free, gift of eternal life. In Christ there is therefore now no condemnation and no separation from God (Rom. 8).

If you are in Christ, your inheritance is the same as that of David’s – total victory in Christ Jesus over Satan, Sin, and Death! In Christ your shame has been removed, and death has been transformed into a doorway into eternity with your Good Heavenly Father. Death and shame are no match for our crucified, risen, and returning King! – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Matthew Henry, John Gill, Arthur Pink, An Exposition of I & II Samuel, (Mac Dill AFB, Florida: Mac Donald Publishing, 1980), 291.

3 John, Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 545 – 554.

4 Ibid., 551 – 554.