Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 31:7
And when the men of Israel that [were] on the other side of the valley, and [they] that [were] on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
7. on the other side of the valley ] On the side of the valley ( mek, see on 1Sa 6:13) or plain of Jezreel opposite to the battle-field. The district to the north is meant, in which the tribes of Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali dwelt. 1Ch 10:7 however reads simply “in the valley,” and perhaps the phrase only means “on the side of the valley.” See next note.
on the other side Jordan ] This is the usual sense of the Hebrew words. The panic spread even to the eastern side of the Jordan. But possibly the phrase here means “on the side of the Jordan,” i.e. in the district between the battle-field and the river; which agrees better with the account of the exploit of the Jabeshites, and the establishment of Ishbosheth’s kingdom at Mahanaim. The greater part of the north of Canaan was thus occupied by the Philistines. Note that this clause is omitted in 1Ch 10:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The men on the other side of the valley – This must mean to the north of the plain of Jezreel, and would comprise the tribe of Naphtali, and Zabulon, and probably Issachar. But the text of 1Ch 10:7 has that were in the valley, limiting the statement to the inhabitants of the plain of Jezreel.
On the other side Jordan – This phrase most commonly means on the east of Jordan, the speaker being supposed to be on the west side. But it is also used of the west of Jordan, as here, if the text be sound.
The Philistines … dwelt in them – One of the principal cities, Beth-shan, fell into their power at once 1Sa 31:10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. The men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley] They appear to have been panic-struck, and therefore fled as far as they could out of the reach of the Philistines. As the Philistines possessed Beth-shan, situated near to Jordan, the people on the other side of that river, fearing for their safety, fled also.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of the valley, to wit, the valley of Jezreel, where the battle was fought.
On the other side Jordan; or rather, on this side Jordan; for these were in the most danger; and the Hebrew preposition is indifferently used for on this side, or for beyond.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. the men of Israel that were onthe other side of the valleyprobably the valley of Jezreelthelargest and southernmost of the valleys that run between LittleHermon and the ridges of the Gilboa range direct into the Jordanvalley. It was very natural for the people in the towns and villagesthere to take fright and flee, for had they waited the arrival of thevictors, they must, according to the war usages of the time, havebeen deprived either of their liberty or their lives.
1Sa31:8-10. THEPHILISTINES TRIUMPHOVER THEIR DEADBODIES.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And which the men of Israel that [were] on the other side of the valley,…. The valley of Jezreel; of which
[See comments on Ho 1:5];
and [they] that [were] on the other side Jordan; or rather “on that side”; for the phrase will bear to be rendered either way, and so may mean that side of Jordan on which the battle was fought; for as for the other side, or that beyond it, the Israelites there could not be in such fear of the Philistines, nor do we ever read of their inhabiting any cities there; though as the phrase is used of the valley, as well as of the river, it may be rendered “about the valley, [and] about Jordan” g, and so describes such that dwelt near to each of them:
saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead; that is, had information and intelligence of those facts, for it is not to be supposed they saw them with their eyes:
they forsook, the cities, and fled; fearing they should be put to the sword, or carried captive:
and the Philistines came and dwelt them; having nothing more to do than to come and take possession.
g – “circa convellem illiam–circa Jordanem”, Junius Tremellius, Picator so Noldius, p. 295. No. 936.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Abuse of Bodies and Rescue by Jabeshites
1Sa 31:7-13 AND 2Ch 10:7-12
When the news of the Israelite disaster spread across the valley of Jezreel, and eventually across to the east side of Jordan, the people were filled with great fear and fled from the Philistines. It appears that the Philistines were cruel and ruthless enemies, and as the survivors of the battle drifted into the towns and cities of the area the people forsook their homes. At mount Gilboa the enemy had penetrated far into the interior and might easily have extended themselves across the Jordan.
Apparently the Philistines did not know Saul and his sons were killed until they came the next day to the battleground to strip the bodies of the slain. Then they found the king and the three princes. It was a great day and time of rejoicing for the Philistines. They took the armor of Saul and cut off his head, sending them into the cities of Philistia for public display. Announcement of their victory was made in idol temples. Saul’s armor was put on display in the temple of Ashtaroth, and his head was fastened in the temple of Dagon. The goddess Ashtaroth, the same as Astarte, was goddess of sex and war.
Dagon was the false god who was praised for Samson’s priestly sacrifice (1Sa 13:8 ff), and by not totally exterminating the Amalekites as the Lord directed him to do (1 Samuel 15 th chapter). Saul had further gained ill repute with the people in the incident wherein he would have slain Jonathan, his son, because of a foolish oath he had made (1 Samuel 14 th chapter).
Saul’s culminating error was his seeking counsel from Satan’s forces. The king knew evil of the cultist practices and had even carried on a campaign to rid the land of them. But when his life had become such that the Lord would not hear him any more he turned to the cultists, never repenting and turning to God. Saul had complained that the Lord would not hear his calls (1Sa 28:15), but Saul had not truly called on Him. He remained full of his own ways and would not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord “slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.”
Apply these lessons: 1) Destiny finally brings judgment to the reprobate sinner; 2) many other people often suffer judgment through the influence of bad leaders; 3) those who befriend one should never be forgotten when opportunity is afforded to return a favor.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Sauls Burial. 1Sa. 31:7-13
7 And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
8 And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
9 And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people.
10 And they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
11 And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul;
12 All 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 came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.
13 And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
6.
What was the outcome of the battle of Mt. Gilboa? 1Sa. 31:7
The principal engagement of the war took place in the plain of Jezreel. When the Israelites were obliged to yield, they fled up the mountains of Gilboa and were pursued and slain there. The Philistines followed Saul, smote his three sons, and fought fiercely against Saul himself. When the men of Israel upon the hillsides that were opposite to the valley of Jezreel and the Jordan saw that the troops fled and Saul and his sons were dead, they took flight out of the cities; whereupon the Philistines nailed the bodies of Saul and his sons to the wall of Beth-shean. This presupposes the capture of that city, from which it is evident that they had occupied the land as far as the Jordan. All the northern part of the land of Israel, in other words, the whole land with the exception of Perea and the land of Judah, came into the hands of the Philistines when Saul was slain.
7.
Where was Sauls corpse gibbeted? 1Sa. 31:10
On the following day, when the Philistines stripped the slain, they found Saul and his three sons lying upon Gilboa. Having cut off their heads and plundered their weapons, they sent them as trophies into the land of the Philistines, passing them round about among the different towns and hamlets of their land to announce the joyful news in the idol-temples and to the people. The corpses they fastened to the town-wall of Beth-shean, a city in the valley of the Jordan (see Jos. 17:11). It is not stated that the Philistines plundered the bodies of Sauls sons and mutilated them by cutting off their heads; but it is evident from verse twelve, where the Jabesh-gileadites are said to have taken down from the wall of Beth-shean not Sauls body only, but the bodies of his sons also, that the Philistines had treated the corpses of Sauls sons in just the same manner as that of Saul himself. The writer speaks distinctly of the abuse of Sauls body, because it was his death that he had chiefly in mind at the time.
8.
Was Sauls body burned? 1Sa. 31:11-13
The men of Jabesh in Gilead had special reason to remember Saul with gratitude (see 1Sa. 11:1-11); and they undertook to remove the disgrace that had been heaped upon Israel by the gibbeting of the kings corpse. All the brave men of the town set out to Beth-shean, took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall, brought them to Jabesh and burned them there, It was not the custom in Israel to burn the corpse, but to bury it in the ground. The former treatment was restricted to the worst criminals (see Lev. 20:14). Consequently the Chaldees interpreted the word burned as relating to the burning of spices, a custom which is met afterwards as a special honor shown to certain of the kings of Judah on the occasion of their burial (2Ch. 16:14; 2Ch. 21:19; Jer. 34:5). In these later instances, however, it is written that the men did make a burning for him; whereas here it is stated distinctly that they burned them. The reason for the burning of the bodies in the case of Saul and his sons is seen in the peculiarity of the circumstances. The bodies were mutilated by the removal of the heads, and therefore a regular burial of the dead was impossible. Moreover these men were anxious lest the Philistines follow up their victory, come to Jabesh, and desecrate the bodies still further. Then, too, this burning was not a complete burning to ashes, but merely a burning of the skin and flesh; so that the bones still remained; were buried in the ground under a shady tree; and were later fetched away and buried in Sauls family grave at Zela, in the land of Benjamin (2Sa. 21:11 ff), as an act of kindness on the part of David.
9.
What judgment of God is seen in Sauls death?
In the ignominious fate of Saul there was manifested the righteous judgment of God in consequence of the hardening of his heart. The love which the citizens of Jabesh displayed in their treatment of the corpses of Saul and his sons, had reference not to the king as rejected by God, but to the king as anointed of Jehovah, and was a practical condemnation, not of the divine judgment which had fallen upon Saul, but of the cruelty of the enemies of Israel and its anointed. For although Saul had waged war almost incessantly against the Philistines, it is not known that in any one of his victories he had ever been guilty of such cruelties towards the conquered and slaughtered foe as could justify this barbarous revenge on the part of the uncircumcised upon his lifeless corpse. Throughout the whole narrative one can almost hear the words of the prophet of God who had tried to admonish the king and had declared, Behold, to hearken is better than sacrifice; and to obey is better than the fat of rams.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) On the other side of the valley.The words on the other side of the valley denote the country opposite to the battle-field in the valley of Jezreel, on which the writer supposes himself to be standing, the land occupied especially by the tribes of Issachar, Zabulon, and Napthali. The expression on the other side of Jordan, is the usual phrase for the country east of the River Jordan. It is highly probable that the alarm caused by the great defeat of their king caused many of the dwellers in the smaller cities and villages to the east of Jordan hastily to abandon their houses rather than be exposed to the insolence and demands of the invading army. Still the Philistine army in this direction could not have penetrated very far, as shortly after Gilboa we hear of Abner rallying the friends of the house of Saul round the Prince Ishbosheth, whom he proclaimed king at Mahanaim, a town some twenty miles east of the river. The country to the south of the plain of Jezreel does not appear to have been overrun by the victorious army. The presence of David in that part no doubt insured its immunity from invasion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. The men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley The inhabitants on the opposite side of the great Plain of Jezreel; that is, on the western side of the plain, opposite to the mountains of Gilboa.
On the other side Jordan The western side of Jordan, opposite to Jabesh-Gilead. Thus the entire northern part of the land of Israel fell under the dominion of the Philistines.
Philistines came and dwelt in them This speedy occupation by the Philistines of the conquered and depopulated cities of Israel, shows their strong purpose to hold henceforth in close subjection the country whose people had been to them so irrepressible a foe. But Abner seems to have recovered these cities to the kingdom of Saul, (2Sa 2:8-10,) and subsequently David utterly subdued the Philistines. 2Sa 8:1.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Burial of Saul at Jabesh-Gilead.
v. 7. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, v. 8. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, v. 9. And they cut off his, v. 10. And they put his armor in the house of Ashtaroth, v. 11. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead, v. 12. all 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, v. 13. And they took their bones,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Sa 31:7 And when the men of Israel that [were] on the other side of the valley, and [they] that [were] on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
Ver. 7. That were on the other side of the valley, ] i.e., On both sides of the place where the battle was fought.
And the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
they forsook the cities: 1Sa 13:6, Lev 26:32, Lev 26:36, Deu 28:33, Jdg 6:2
Reciprocal: 1Sa 14:22 – hid themselves 2Sa 2:7 – let your 2Sa 4:3 – General 1Ch 10:7 – then they 2Ch 13:19 – took cities Psa 9:6 – thou hast Psa 144:14 – no breaking in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 31:7-10. They on the other side Jordan Or, rather, on this side Jordan; for the Hebrew word signifies either side. And there was no occasion for those beyond Jordan to flee. Saul and his three sons The Scripture, as Mr. Henry well observes, makes no mention of the souls of Saul and his sons, what became of them after they were dead; secret things belong not to us. They cut off his head As the Israelites did by Goliath, and fastened it in the temple of Dagon, 1Ch 10:10. In the house of their idols To give them the glory of this victory. And by this respect shown to their pretended deities, how do they shame those who give not the honour of their achievements to the living God! They fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan To expose it, as we do the bodies of great malefactors, to public shame and reproach. And thus, as appears by 1Sa 31:12, they did with the bodies of his sons.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
31:7 And when the men of Israel that [were] on the other side of the {b} valley, and [they] that [were] on the other side {c} Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
(b) Near to Gilboa.
(c) The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The aftermath of the battle 31:7-13
The other Israelite soldiers retreated when they heard that Saul and his sons had died. This left towns in the region open for Philistine seizure. Instead of driving the native inhabitants out of the land, Saul had made it possible for them to drive the Israelites out and to reestablish themselves in Galilee (cf. Jos 1:2-9).
The Philistines cut off Saul’s head, as David had earlier cut off the head of Goliath, the Philistine champion (1Sa 17:51). They hung it as a trophy in the temple of Dagon (1Ch 10:10). They also circulated Saul’s weapons and sent them on a tour of Philistine pagan temples before finally depositing them in the temple of Ashtaroth, their chief female deity. David had taken Goliath’s head to Jerusalem, and had put his weapons in his own tent, at least temporarily (1Sa 17:54). The giant’s sword was in the tabernacle at Nob when David went there (1Sa 21:9). This book began with scenes from God’s temple, but it ends with scenes in the temples of Israel’s pagan enemies. David’s faith had brought Israel success, but Saul’s disobedience had lost it.
The Philistines fastened Saul’s decapitated corpse on the wall of their nearby town of Beth-shan. In the ancient Near East the treatment of a corpse was very significant. If people, even enemies, honored a person, they treated his corpse with care and gave it an honorable burial, but if they did not respect him, they treated his dead body with contempt. The Philistines showed great disrespect for Saul by hanging his dead body on the wall of Beth-shan. This town stood at the east end of the Jezreel Valley, near where the battle had taken place. Contrast their respect for David in chapter 29.
However, the men of Jabesh-gilead rescued Saul’s corpse from further humiliation, burned it, probably because the Philistines had abused it, and perhaps to prevent disease, [Note: Baldwin, p. 171.] and buried the remaining bones. Jabesh-gilead lay about 13 miles east-southeast of Beth-shan. Saul had earlier rescued Jabesh-gilead from the Ammonites (ch. 11). Some of its inhabitants may have been Saul’s blood relatives. [Note: See my comments on 11:6-11.] The tamarisk tree under which the people buried Saul was very different from a royal tomb, but that kind of tree was a symbol of life since it was an evergreen. The writer may have wanted us to remember that earlier Saul had played the fool under another tamarisk in Gibeah (cf. 1Sa 22:6). Later, David honored Saul and Jonathan by digging up their bones and burying them more appropriately in their family tomb (2Sa 21:12-14). The seven-day fast also honored Saul but was much less than the honors granted other great leaders of Israel (cf. Num 20:29; Deu 34:8). The writer evidently recorded all these details to show the ignominy in which Saul died because he departed from the Lord.
This is how the life of Israel’s first king, the man after the Israelites’ own heart, ended (cf. 1Ch 10:13-14; Hos 13:11). He was full of promise at his anointing, having many natural qualities that could have contributed to a successful reign. He also possessed the Holy Spirit’s enablement after his anointing. Unfortunately he did not become a source of blessing to Israel and the world, nor did God bless him personally. Instead he became a curse to Israel, the world, and himself. He did so because he failed to acknowledge Yahweh as the true king of Israel and because he failed to view himself as Yahweh’s servant. His life teaches us that the key to blessing or cursing is one’s trust in, and obedience to, God.
"At the end . . . much remains to praise, much to blame, and much to wonder at." [Note: R. B. Sewall, The Vision of Tragedy, p. 32.]
Note the differences between Saul’s death and Jesus Christ’s. Jesus was consistently trusting and obedient to His Father’s will. He laid down His life as a sacrifice for others rather than taking it Himself. He spent the night before His death in prayer to His Father, whereas Saul spent his last night with a medium. Jesus Christ blessed many through His death, even the whole human race, but Saul brought blessing to others through his death only because it cleared the way for someone better.
Chapters 21-31 contrast the rise of David and the fall of Saul. The reason for both was clearly the extent of their commitment to Yahweh. We can see their commitment in their responses to His revealed will.
The writer also developed the motif of the proper response to the Lord’s anointed in this part of the book. David’s respect for the priests and His seeking of God’s will through them shows the proper attitude. Saul on the other hand slaughtered them, showing that he no longer cared about the worship of Yahweh, and sought guidance from the spiritual underworld. God spared people who acknowledged David as His anointed, and they became sources of fertility. Those who opposed David suffered God’s curse and died.