10:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel. The Israelites fled before the Philistines and many of them fell dead on Mount Gilboa.
Samuel and Kings give man’s viewpoint of history. Chronicles gives God’s viewpoint of history. The author of Chronicles wanted to emphasize the promises of the Davidic Covenant, so the book will concentrate on the reign of David. There is only one chapter devoted to Saul.
Saul and Jonathan were leading the Israelites out to war against the Philistines. Saul had approached the witch of Endor and asked for occultic information. The deceased Samuel appeared from the dead and predicted that Saul and Jonathan would die in this battle.
10:2 The Philistines stayed right on the heels of Saul and his sons. They struck down Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua.
Jonathan died, just as Samuel predicted.
10:3 The battle was thick around Saul; the archers spotted him and wounded him.
Saul was wounded by the Philistine archers.
10:4 Saul told his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and stab me with it. Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come and torture me.” But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
The armor bearer refused to kill the anointed King of Israel. Saul fell on his own sword, but it did not kill him.
10:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died.
Saul died, but who killed him?
10:6 So Saul and his three sons died; his whole household died together.
The family of Saul was wiped out, making room for David to step in as a new dynastic king.
10:7 When all the Israelites who were in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.
Israel retreated. The Philistines took the city.
10:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip loot from the corpses, they discovered Saul and his sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa.
The Philistines noticed the dead bodies of the king and prince.
10:9 They stripped his corpse, and then carried off his head and his armor. They sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines proclaiming the news to their idols and their people.
The corpses of Saul and Jonathan were hung on the walls of Beth Shan.
10 They placed his armor in the temple of their gods and hung his head in the temple of Dagon.
The heads of Saul and Jonathan were hung in the temple of Dagon. This was the same temple which Samson had toppled with his supernatural strength.
10:11 When all the residents of Jabesh Gilead heard about everything the Philistines had done to Saul, 10:12 all the warriors went and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their remains under the oak tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.
Jabesh-Gilead was the hometown of Saul. The residents took down the bodies, buried them, and then fasted for seven days.
10:13 So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord and did not obey the Lord’s instructions; he even tried to conjure up underworld spirits.
The reason for Saul’s death was not given in 2 Samuel. He died for being unfaithful to the Lord, for not obeying the instructions of the Lord, and for contacting demons.
10:14 He did not seek the Lord’s guidance, so the Lord killed him and transferred the kingdom to David son of Jesse.
Notice that it was the Lord who killed him. This is God’s universe. He takes home who He wants when He wants. There are many believers and unbelievers who live in sin and find their life yanked out from under them.