Catholic Commentary on 1 Samuel 31

"Saul said to his armour-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.' But his armour-bearer was terrified and would not do it." (1 Samuel 31:4)

The Death of Saul

The Philistines fight against Israel and the Israelites flee. The Philistines kill Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul's sons. The battle closes around Saul; the archers wound him critically. Saul said to his armour-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.' But his armour-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. His armour-bearer does the same. Saul and three of his sons die on the same day. The Philistines cut off Saul's head and fasten his body to the wall of Beth-shan. The men of Jabesh-gilead, whom Saul had rescued in chapter 11 at the beginning of his reign, march through the night and take the bodies down and bury them.

The tragedy of Saul is total: the man who was chosen when he was humble and lost the kingdom when he was proud, the king who spared Agag and could not spare himself. The Catechism notes that the biblical history does not hide the failures of the greatest figures; the honesty of the record is itself part of its inspiration (CCC 107).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the men of Jabesh-gilead walked all night to recover the body of the king who had delivered them forty years before. The loyal kindness that remembers what was done for them in chapter 11 and acts on it in chapter 31 is the covenant faithfulness that keeps its obligations across decades. Remember those who delivered you in your crisis. Keep faith with them to the end.

Prayer

Lord God, Saul's reign ended as it was bound to end from the moment he touched what he was not authorised to touch. Have mercy on him and on every leader who began with humility and fell to pride. And raise up in our time leaders who finish as they began. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

31
Saul’s Overthrow and Death
(2 Samuel 1:1-16; 1 Chronicles 10:1-6)
1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
 
2 The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua. 3 When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.
 
4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run it through me, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!”
 
But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
 
5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.
 
6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day.
The Philistines Possess the Towns
(1 Chronicles 10:7-10)
 
7 When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.
 
8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.
Jabesh-gilead’s Tribute to Saul
(1 Chronicles 10:11-14)
 
11 When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan.
 
When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there. 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

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