Joel M Bradshaw

1Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on 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.–1 Samuel 31

“You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)

Think of suicide as intentional murder of self. It therefore is sinful and morally wrong. But like any other sins, it does not necessarily cancel you from receiving God’s forgiveness. Saul’s suicide is pictured here as a bad thing, a tragic thing. It was not noble. The irony here is that like David earlier, the armor bearer would not lay his hands on Saul, God’s anointed, but had no problems taking his own life. Thus he reckoned killing Saul as worse than killing himself.

We mourn the death of noble Jonathan. He stayed true to David to the end and also honored his father. We are hoping that in 2 Samuel David does right by Jonathan and keeps his word regarding Jonathan’s family.

Saul’s reign ends with complete Philistine victory. Maybe he should have been more diligent about them than about chasing David around the country. ‘Ghost’ Samuel’s prediction came true about Saul’s death.–JMB