Meanwhile, back at Gilboa, the armies of the Philistines and Hebrews clashed. The Hebrews are routed. Three of Saul's sons are killed, including Jonathon. Saul is critically wounded by archers and he asks his armor-bearer to kill him. Saul expects that the Philistines would kill him, but he does not want to die at their hands. The armor-bearer declines out of fear of Saul, so Saul lunges on a sword and dies. The armor-bearer does the same.
The Philistines display the bodies of Saul and his men on the wall of Beth Anan. The men of Jabesh-Gilead hear of this and remove the bodies at night, burn them, and then bury their bones.
Thus ends the first book of Samuel. Saul and three of his sons may be dead, but Saul's dynasty and the civil war are not over yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment