Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
1 Chronicles 10:3

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

9:35-22:1 THE REIGN OF DAVID

End of the line of Saul (9:35-10:14)

Saul is introduced by listing his genealogy once again (35-44). However, the Chronicler passes over the reign of Saul in silence, for his concern is with the dynasty of David. Saul’s death alone is recounted, since that was the means of bringing in the reign of David. It was also God’s judgment on Saul for his unfaithfulness and disobedience (10:1-14; see notes on 1 Samuel 31:1-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was distressed by reason of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died. So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together. "And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. And they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings unto their idols, and to the people. And they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon. And when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. "So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah, which he kept not; and also for that he asked counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire thereby, and inquired not of Jehovah: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse."

"And all his house died together" The picayune objection of some scholars that this is not strictly the truth, because Eshbaal (Ishbosheth), another son of Saul was left alive, and for awhile was made king over North Israel by Abner, is typical of the nit-picking hatred of the Word of God by some writers. The reference is not to every single one of Saul's posterity, but merely to those just named. This is the same kind of hyperbole one uses when he says, "We gave a party, and everybody came."

"They buried him under the oak in Jabesh" This tree was called "a tamarisk tree" in 1 Samuel 31:13; and the marginal reference here gives "terebinth" as an alternative. If the trees were growing side by side, which is by no means impossible, the Biblical accounts may both be absolutely accurate. No one has the right to deny what is here stated as a fact.

We shall not make line by line comments on this chapter, for we have already discussed it in the closing chapter of 1 Samuel and the opening chapter of 2 Samuel. As Curtis (and Madsen) noted: "This account of the death of Saul is taken from 1 Samuel 31:1-13 with a few slight variations."Ibid.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 10

And in chapter ten, we have the story, once more, of Saul's death. How in fighting against the Philistines up near mount Gilboa that Saul fell before the Philistines. He was hit with one of the arrows. An archer shot him. He realized that he wasn't going to come out of it, but he was still alive. He... Saul you remember was a big guy. Hard to kill him. And he knew that ultimately the wound from this arrow would get him, and so he pleaded with his armor bearer to thrust him through, to finish him off. But his armor bearer was fearful to do it. And so Saul fell upon his own spear. He set it out in front of him and fell upon it and died. And of course, when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his spear.

Jonathan and his other brothers, the sons of Saul, were slain by the Philistines clear up in the area of mount Gilboa. The next day, as the Philistines were coming around stripping the bodies, they found the body of Saul, and they cut off his head and set it through the land of the Philistines in order that they might rejoice over the fact that they had killed Saul, the king of Israel. And they put his body in the temple of Dagon there in Bethshemesh, which is at the northern end of the mount Gilboa range where Gilboa comes down to a little stream. And the men across the valley, across the Jordan River about ten miles away I guess, over in Jabeshgilead, when they heard that Saul's body was pinned up there in the temple of the god with Jonathan, they came and they took the bodies and they took them back over on the other side of Jordan, and there they cremated them.

So in verse thirteen we are told,

Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it; and inquired not of the LORD: therefore the Lord slew him, and he turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse ( 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 ).

So Saul died for his transgression. And a fellow who had tremendous potential. I think that when God chose Saul there was demonstrated in Saul fabulous potential as a king. He was humble. He came from a good family. He seemed to be a natural leader. He was courageous. But before long, after a few victories, the women started coming out when Saul would walk down the street, and they would come out and they'd begin to dance with their tambourines. And they would sing, "Saul has killed his thousands." And Saul began to accept this praise and adulation of the people. He began to expect it. And pride began to get hold of the guy's life. And this is the thing that destroyed him. That humility was gone. And now his arrogancy and pride, which led to the tremendous jealousy of David, trying to drive David out. And then his disobedience to the commandments of God. And finally, when God would not answer him, he went to the witch at Endor to inquire of her, and therefore God allowed him to be killed there on the mount Gilboa. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

A. The Death of Saul ch. 10

"Having established the remnant’s genealogical link with the Davidic and priestly lines, he [the writer] focused on the groundwork of the Davidic promises. His design was to show how the kingly and priestly concerns came together in David. David is then seen as a model for the postexilic community as they look forward to One like David." [Note: Townsend, p. 286.]

Chapter 10 is an almost verbatim repetition of Saul’s defeat as the writer of Samuel recorded it in 1 Samuel 31.

The Chronicler’s presentation of Saul supplied a backdrop and a contrast for his portrayal of David. Saul was the king the people had demanded prematurely. He was the king after the people’s heart. His name means "he who was requested." Saul failed to submit to Yahweh’s authority and to obey His Word as God had revealed it in the Mosaic Law and through the prophet Samuel (1 Chronicles 10:13-14). He failed to respond appropriately to God’s elective grace in placing him on the throne. Saul had no heart for God. Consequently God brought discipline on Saul and on Israel under him. Because Saul failed to listen to God, God eventually stopped listening to him (cf. Jeremiah 7:13-16). Finally God killed him (1 Chronicles 10:14). The reason the writer recorded the death of Saul at such length seems to have been to show that David had no hand in it. [Note: See Saul Zalewski, "The Purpose of the Story of the Death of Saul in 1 Chronicles X," Vetus Testamentum 39:4 (October 1989):465.] Disloyalty to God always results in catastrophe, especially for His servants (cf. Luke 12:48).

By recounting Saul’s death, the writer intended to bring many of the lessons connected with the people’s demand for a king, and Saul’s history, back to the minds of his restoration readers. Hopefully it will do the same for us.

"For the Chronicler, the disobedient Saul (1 Chronicles 10:13) was if anything a foil meant to show the faithfulness of David." [Note: Thompson, p. 109. Cf. Wilcock, p. 54.]

In contrast to Saul, David was God’s choice for Israel. His reign resulted in blessing, not blasting.

"One of the striking features of the Chronicler’s theology is his attempt to correlate blessing with faithfulness and judgment with disobedience. He returned to the theme again and again . . ." [Note: Thompson, p. 37.]

A comparison of this chapter with 1 Samuel 31:6-10 shows how the Chronicler heightened the disastrous nature of Saul’s death in subtle ways. [Note: Cf. Williamson, pp. 93-94; and McConville, pp. 15-18.] In this and the following chapters four themes interweave. [Note: Wilcock, p. 87.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.   2 And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.   3 And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers.   4 Then said Saul to his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. So Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.   5 And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword, and died.   6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.   7 And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

      This account of Saul's death is the same with that which we had, 1 Samuel 31:1-13, c. We need not repeat the exposition of it. Only let us observe, 1. Princes sin and the people suffer for it. It was a bad time with Israel when they fled before the Philistines and fell down slain (1 Chronicles 10:1; 1 Chronicles 10:1), when they quitted their cities, and the Philistines came and dwelt in them,1 Chronicles 10:7; 1 Chronicles 10:7. We do not find that they were at this time guilty of idolatry, as they had been before, in the days of the judges, and were afterwards, in the days of the kings. Samuel had reformed them, and they were reformed: and yet they are thus given to the spoil and to the robbers. No doubt there was enough in them to deserve this judgment; but that which divine Justice had chiefly an eye to was the sin of Saul. Note, Princes and great men should in a special manner take heed of provoking God's wrath; for, if they kindle that fire, they know not how many may be consumed by it for their sakes. 2. Parents sin and the children suffer for it. When the measure of Saul's iniquity was full, and his day came to fall (which David foresaw, 1 Samuel 26:10), he not only descended into battle and perished himself, but his sons (all but Ishbosheth) perished with him, and Jonathan among the rest, that gracious, generous man; for all things come alike to all. Thus was the iniquity of the fathers visited upon the children, and they fell as parts of the condemned father. Note, Those that love their seed must leave their sins, lest they perish not alone in their iniquity, but bring ruin on their families with themselves, or entail a curse upon them when they are gone. 3. Sinners sin and at length suffer for it themselves, though they be long reprieved; for, although sentence be not executed speedily, it will be executed. It was so upon Saul; and the manner of his fall was such as, in various particulars, answered to his sin. (1.) He had thrown a javelin more than once at David, and missed him; but the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers. (2.) He had commanded Doeg to slay the priests of the Lord; and now, in despair, he commands his armour-bearer to draw his sword and thrust him through. (3.) He had disobeyed the command of God in not destroying the Amalekites, and his armour-bearer disobeys him in not destroying him. (4.) He that was the murderer of the priests is justly left to himself to be his own murderer; and his family is cut off who cut off the city of the priests. See, and say, The Lord is righteous.