How do Saul and his sons die at Gelboe, and what do the men of Jabes Galaad do with their bodies?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Philistines kill Saul’s three named sons and grievously wound Saul with archers. His armourbearer refuses his request to kill him, so Saul falls on his sword; the armourbearer follows after seeing him dead. After the Philistines display the bodies, Jabes Galaad’s valiant men walk all night, recover them, burn them, bury the bones and fast seven days.

Chapter breakdown

The Philistines fight Israel; Israel’s men flee and fall slain on Mount Gelboe. They fall on Saul and his sons and kill Jonathan, Abinadab and Melchisua. The whole weight of battle turns on Saul, and archers overtake and grievously wound him. He asks his armourbearer to draw his sword and kill him lest the uncircumcised come, slay and mock him. The armourbearer refuses because of exceeding great fear. Saul takes his sword and falls on it. Seeing Saul is dead, the armourbearer falls on his own sword and dies with him. Saul, his three sons, his armourbearer and all his men die that same day together.

Israel’s men beyond the valley and beyond the Jordan see Israel’s flight and the deaths of Saul and his sons, abandon their cities and flee. The Philistines come and live there. The next day they come to strip the slain and find Saul and his three sons on Mount Gelboe. They cut off Saul’s head, strip his armour and send throughout the Philistines’ land to publish it in their idol temples and among their people. They put his armour in Astaroth’s temple and hang his body on Bethsan’s wall.

Jabes Galaad’s inhabitants hear all the Philistines did to Saul. All the most valiant men rise and walk all night, take Saul’s body and his sons’ bodies from Bethsan’s wall and bring them to Jabes Galaad, where they burn them. They take the bones, bury them in Jabes’s wood and fast seven days.

The story inside

Israel’s flight and the attack on Saul’s sons lead to the battle pressing on Saul. The archers’ wounds lead to his request to the armourbearer, whose fear brings refusal; Saul’s fall on the sword is followed by the armourbearer’s after he sees Saul dead. News of defeat and the royal deaths leads people beyond the valley and Jordan to leave their cities, which the Philistines inhabit. The next day’s stripping brings discovery of the bodies and the head, armour and wall display. Hearing what was done leads Jabes Galaad’s valiant men to the all-night recovery, burning, burial of bones and seven-day fast.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The two sword deaths have a narrated order. Saul requests killing because he fears being slain and mocked; his armourbearer refuses from great fear, then falls on his own sword after seeing Saul dead. No torture threat or motive of loyalty is supplied.
2
Defeat changes the cities’ occupants. The men beyond the valley and Jordan see the flight and deaths, leave their cities, and the Philistines dwell there. The source names no garrison arrangement or additional valley name.
3
The final actions are concrete. Jabes Galaad’s valiant men recover all four bodies, burn them at Jabes, bury the bones in its wood and fast seven days. The chapter does not state a motive of repaying an earlier rescue or name the tree species.

Test your recall

How do Saul’s wounds, his request and the armourbearer’s refusal lead to their deaths, why are the cities abandoned, and how does the Philistine display lead to Jabes’s recovery and burial?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 31622–31644
1 Kings Chapter 31 Israel is defeated by the Philistines: Saul and his sons are slain. 31:1. And the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gelboe. 31:2. And the Philistines fell upon Saul, and upon his sons, and they slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchisua, the sons of Saul. 31:3. And the whole weight of the battle was turned upon Saul: and the archers overtook him, and he was grievously wounded by the archers. 31:4. Then Saul said to his armourbearer: Draw thy sword, and kill me: lest these uncircumcised come, and slay me, and mock at me. And his armourbearer would not: for he was struck with exceeding great fear. Then Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. 31:5. And when his armourbearer saw this, to wit, that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 31:6. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men that same day together.
Lines 31646–31659
31:7. And the men of Israel, that were beyond the valley, and beyond the Jordan, seeing that the Israelites were fled, and that Saul was dead, and his sons, forsook their cities, and fled: and the Philistines came and dwelt there. 31:8. And on the morrow the Philistines came to strip the slain, and they found Saul and his three sons lying in mount Gelboe. 31:9. And they cut off Saul’s head, and stripped him of his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the temples of their idols and among their people. 31:10. And they put his armour in the temple of Astaroth, but his body they hung on the wall of Bethsan.
Lines 31661–31673
31:11. Now when the inhabitants of Jabes Galaad had heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 31:12. All the most valiant men arose, and walked all the night, and took the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, from the wall of Bethsan: and they came to Jabes Galaad, and burnt them there. 31:13. And they took their bones, and buried them in the wood of Jabes: and fasted seven days.