Tag Archive - Saul’s Death

After your death how will people remember you: 1 Chronicles 9 and 10

The detailed genealogies that are found in the first eight chapters of 1 Chronicles have come to completion and in 1 Chronicles 9 we are given a preview to the post exilic return of people of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem. There are only scarce details given about the return from exile but the books of Ezra and Nehemiah will give greater details about the return to Jerusalem.  Why are the names of the people who returned from exile given at this point in 1 Chronicles? Why are the names and lineage of the people returning from exile important?

In 1 Chronicles 10 the death of King Saul during the battle with the Philistines and the faithfulness of Jabesh-gilead is retold. What does it mean when the most noted detail of your life is your death and unfaithfulness to God? The reminder of Saul’s life and death makes me thankful for Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for me. Because of Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross I will not die for my transgressions. We are so easily drawn away from God and it will only be by His grace alone that we can live and have hope.

Seek the truth because it will always find you out: 2 Samuel 1 and 2

How did Saul the first king of Israel die? In 1 Samuel 31:4 it tells that after Saul had been severely wounded by Philistine archers that he took his own life by falling on his sword. An apparently conflicting story is presented in 2 Samuel 1:1-16 about an Amalekite who said that he killed Saul. Which story is true? Why would an Amalekite be fighting near Saul during the battle? Why would Saul ask an Amalekite to kill him? Wouldn’t Saul be worth more alive to an enemy such as the Amalekite? Why did this man find it so important to bring the crown and bracelet that Saul wore to David? Continue Reading…

Saul remembered in death by Jabesh-Gilead: 1 Samuel 31

The day of the battle between Israel and the Philistines arrives in 1 Samuel 31. How did Saul behave the morning of the battle. After Saul had the spirit of Samuel called from beyond the grave he knew that this was the day that he and his sons would die. How would you behave if you awoke in the morning and knew that your life would come to an end by the end of the day? I suppose that I wouldn’t have slept at all during the night. Were these the feelings of Saul? In 1 Samuel 31:1 it states that the men of Israel fled from the Philistines. Did the fear come from the lack of leadership from Saul because he knew it was the end? Continue Reading…