1 Samuel 31

Bible Passage:  1 Samuel 31

The last chapter of 1 Samuel is a short one. So short that the details don’t seem very detailed, so concise that it requires more consideration. The story is a simple one. There is only one main event, though we might say there are three parts to it.

1. The Philistines wage a fierce battle and overpower the Israelite army.

2. Saul and his sons are killed and strung up.

3. The people of Jabesh-Gilead repay Saul by bringing him down for a proper burial (cf. 1 Sam 11).

This chapter is in effect the tragic end of the first king of Israel.

The End

The movies of old always had these two words that appear on the screen to signal the end of the film. This was the case with films like The Ten Commandments and Dr Zhivago. Whether triumphant or tragic, there was always an ending. What mattered was what kind of mental state the audience went out of the theatre with.

The ending of Israel’s first king is decidedly tragic. There is no question about this as it had been building up since 1 Sam 13:14 onwards. What thoughts go through our minds as we read of the tragedy? It’s actually a rather difficult chapter to comment on because of how Saul already had it coming. From his foolish sacrifice to his disobedience and his reliance on soothsaying, there was never a doubt that Saul was so deeply buried in the sins of his own doing.

A key lesson we might learn is that we must really, really take heed to ourselves. For it is one foolish act that leads to another which eventually culminates in a self-burial by one’s own sins. We know for certain that there was always a chance for him to turn back in repentance, but sadly, this was never really chosen in real faith. The times that he tried to return to God were borne out of his desperation and vain conviction in his own self-esteem.

Yet, it is wise for us not to despise Saul. Besides the obvious point about how we could well commit similar or even worse sins, there is the humility of David that inspires us to take a step back and ponder. We see clearly in 2 Sam 1 that David neither took delight in Saul’s suicide nor expressed relief in the matter. Contrary to our own expectations, David composed a funeral song for his greatest nemesis.

The Beginning

The end of Saul signalled a beginning of God’s true desired king of Israel. If we go back to 1 Sam 16:13-14, we see that there was a turning point from the perspective of God. The Spirit of God rested on David and receded from Saul. Here, we find that the stage was finally set for David’s ascendancy. Yet, it was not a cause for rejoicing because David never faltered in his belief that Saul was the Lord’s anointed. In a word, David expressed humaneness and compassion. David’s new life was not straight into kingship. Rather, it was a beginning of freedom, albeit a solemn one.

And as we ponder about the end of one man, we wait in anticipation over the beginnings of another man’s reign. This would be the man David, the one truly after the heart of the Lord. And as they say, there is always a silver lining around a dark cloud. As clichéd as it sounds, this was the case for Israel. Though defeated because of the negligence under Saul’s reign, Israel was always under the watchful eye of God through all her dark days.

In a similar way, once the darkest of valleys have been passed through, we will see the smiling face of Jesus at the end of the road. This will only happen if we conduct our life of faith in the way that is wholly un-Saul-like. The history of the first king of Israel gives us ample warnings with which we admonish ourselves so as to inherit the kingdom above.

What kind of mental state do you leave 1 Sam with?