And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines smote Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.
Mount Gilboa is where the reign of Israel's first king collapses. Three of Saul's sons die here, including Jonathan, the friend of David — which raises two hard questions: why did a man of faith die among God's enemies, and what was God doing in a defeat this total?
These deaths are not an accident of battle. They match what the prophet Samuel had already told Saul would happen.
According to the word of God spoken by Samuel, Israel falls before the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. The three sons of Saul — Jonathan is one of them — perish. Saul is the last one remaining.
Reading the chapter alongside that warning, one commentator draws out how precisely the two correspond:
How truly had the prophet warned, how punctually was every word verified! Thus fell Saul and his house.
The verse names sons, not soldiers. One writer follows that thread through the whole family and traces it back to the father.
Jonathan was killed with his father and two brothers, Abinadab and Melchishua, at the battle of Mount Gilboa. Ishbosheth, another son, took his father's throne and reigned for perhaps seven years. At the end of that time two of his servants murdered him in his own bed... It would be hard to find a more terrible end to a whole family, and I have no doubt their father was responsible. He began by rejecting the word of the Lord, and the Lord rejected him. (1 Samuel 15:26). What a deeply solemn lesson for every parent! The Word of the Lord claims authority over us, and we cannot reject it and escape the consequences.
Of the three sons, Jonathan is the one readers grieve over. Commentators are careful not to read his end as a verdict on his soul.
We easily forget something. Every true believer from Abel on is, through Christ, a child of resurrection, a vessel prepared for glory. Yet he is still under the government of God on earth. In the firmness of His love, God has disciplined His people by sending even death itself. The prophet in 1 Kings 13 is a case in point. The lion met him on the road and killed him for his disobedience. Yet he was a "man of God," and the account insists on that title even as the sentence of death was announced. So this severe discipline does not put his eternal salvation in question. To say it did would be to question the faithfulness and the love of God. So Jonathan was a man of faith, though he fell with Saul at Gilboa.
Jonathan died in the army of the man who hunted David. Writers trace that back to an earlier choice: he loved David but never joined him in exile.
It was one thing to be an Israelite; it was another to be with David in the stronghold. Even Jonathan was not there. He still held to the old order of things. Though he loved David as his own soul, he lived and died at Saul's side... So when the Holy Spirit proclaims the names and deeds of David's honoured men, we look in vain for the name of the loving Jonathan. While the devoted companions of David's exile were gathering round his throne in the sunshine of his royal favour, poor Jonathan lay in the dust. He had fallen without honour on Mount Gilboa, at the hands of the pagan Philistines.
Another writer finds the root of it in Jonathan's thought for his own place:
Oh, why did he not stop there, once he had declared that the kingdom was David's, and say nothing about himself!... It was bringing in the capital "I" — his thought for himself — that was the undoing of Jonathan. This carried him back to his father's court, where his friend was hated... Sharing David's rejection would have meant the cave and the mountainside for a time. But it would also have meant a place of honour in the kingdom of David instead of disgrace and death at the hands of the pagan Philistines.
This is an ending, but also a beginning. The fall of Saul's house opens the way for David's throne.
A day whose last hour would see the king dead, and his sons with him! A day when the power of Israel would be broken, its armies scattered, fear and dread on everyone! What a wonderful prelude to the glory and power of the coming king, and to the peaceful rule of his son. It was God's wise way of bringing in His chosen king and preparing the kingdom, so that all Israel would acknowledge Him to be the source of all power and glory.
- Word spoken — Samuel warned Saul, and every word came true on Gilboa.
- Word rejected — Saul rejected God's word first, and his whole family goes down with him. Writers call this a solemn lesson for every parent.
- Word and the believer — Jonathan died under God's government on earth. That discipline does not put his salvation in question.
- Word and self — Jonathan's thought for his own place kept him in his father's court. Love without separation cost him a place among David's honoured men.
- Word and glory — the defeat that ends Saul's kingdom is God's way of bringing in David, so that Israel would credit the throne to Him alone.
And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers came up with him; and he was much terrified by the archers.
The battle on Mount Gilboa closes in around Israel's first king. Arrows he cannot answer bring Saul down, and one question hangs over the scene: what was still open to him in that hour?
The Philistines pressed the attack. But one writer says they were not the real opponent, and that the verdict was settled long before the battle.
And now we have only to follow our foolish king to the place of judgment, the day of reckoning. He had rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord had rejected him. His sin had gone ahead of him to judgment — there was no need now to look into it. Every stage of his evil reign had declared it, and now he has only to meet the judgment... But he does not die the death of all men. He dies as a fool dies, slain by his own sword; his sons fall with him, and his army is routed by the enemies of the Lord... For it was the Lord, and not the Philistines, who had a controversy with him.
The verse names the weapon: archers. Saul's own weapons, the sword and the javelin, only worked up close.
We may imagine that he was perhaps able to hold his own against individual attacks. When a swordsman met him, or someone with a spear, perhaps he could defend himself. But the archers wounded him. They could stand at a distance, out of reach of his hurled javelin and away from the edge of his sword. Against these he had nothing, and was badly wounded by them.
Why had Saul no archers of his own? One writer traces it to the bowmen of Saul's own tribe, who had already left him for David.
Saul had been overcome by the archers (1 Sam. 31:3) when he himself had been deprived of archers. Indeed, 1 Chronicles 12:1-7 tells us what happened before Saul's defeat. The band of archers from the tribe of Benjamin, most of them from the family of Kish, had rallied around David and joined him at Ziklag. This is why Saul "was much terrified" (1 Sam. 31:3) by the archers.
Saul's defeat changed the way Israel would fight.
David gave orders that Israel's warriors should be taught the use of the bow. Archery was what wounded Saul. From a human point of view, that was possibly what decided the Philistine victory. Israel now must learn this long-range warfare.
Older translations end this verse "he was much terrified by the archers." One writer follows that thread: Saul's fear had a history, and here it reached its worst.
He had been very much afraid when Samuel announced judgment. He had been afraid, and his heart had trembled greatly, in the presence of the Philistine army — the bare preparations for judgment. How much more when judgment is being carried out: "He was much terrified by the archers" (v. 3). So the moment the sinner stands before God's judgment, all his strength leaves him. Terror takes its place.
A wound is not yet death. Between the arrows and the sword there was an interval, and the question is what Saul did with it.
What then is to be his resource? Will he turn to God, badly wounded as he is, and throw himself on His mercy? Will he prove that though the archers have shot at him bitterly and wounded him, the mighty One of Jacob still makes his hands strong? Sadly, in this hour of hopeless distress he does not turn to God. He had been meeting the enemy with his own sword — a picture, we may say, of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now he turns it against his own chest and falls on it. He becomes the first suicide we have a definite record of in Scripture.
Another writer shows what Saul feared more than death.
How pathetic is his utter absence of faith in the God of Israel! He would choose a death of dark hopelessness rather than endure mockery from his enemies.
- Warned. Saul entered this battle already told how it would end; the arrows carried out a sentence, not an accident.
- Weakened. The bowmen of his own tribe had left him for David, so the very weapon that killed him was the one he lacked.
- Wounded. Older translations read "he was much terrified by the archers" — the fear he had felt twice before now arriving in full.
- Wasted. Wounded but still alive, he had one opening left: to throw himself on God's mercy. He turned his sword on himself instead.
- Warning. Saul's own weapons could not reach the archers, and his own strength could not stand before God's judgment. Mercy was there for the asking; he never asked.
Then said Saul to his armour-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through with it; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not; for he was much afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
Saul's last recorded words order his armour-bearer to kill him. His last act is to fall on his own sword. It ends a reign that began with every advantage. Commentators read the scene as a warning coming true, and they ask what Saul feared at the end.
The battle on Mount Gilboa was not an accident of war. It carried out what Samuel had announced, and one writer traces each stage of Saul's fear.
Saul had been very afraid when Samuel announced the judgment. His heart had trembled greatly at the mere sight of the Philistine army getting ready for battle. How much more, then, when God carries the judgment out: "He was much terrified by the archers" (v. 3). So the moment the sinner finds himself facing God's judgment, all his strength leaves him. Terror takes its place.
(The writer follows an older translation of verse 3, which reads "much terrified by the archers.")
Saul's stated reason for wanting to die is the treatment he expects from his enemies. One writer points out what he never considers instead.
No kind stretcher bearer was there to carry him away. His armour bearer could do nothing to help him. So he urged his armour bearer to put him to death. He feared the mockery of the Philistines when they found him. How pathetic is his complete absence of faith in the God of Israel! He would choose a death of dark hopelessness rather than endure mockery from his enemies.
Saul calls the Philistines "uncircumcised" — his word for people who were not Hebrews. It is the one religious note in his dying speech, and one writer weighs what it was worth.
Even at the point of death, the words "these uncircumcised" express his outward religion. That religion rested on his contempt for those who were not Hebrews. As for Saul's own circumcision, could it save him? Is it not rather circumcision of heart that God respects?
Wounded and out of options, Saul still had one road open that he does not take. The sword he had been fighting with becomes the instrument of his own death.
Pride clings to poor Saul to the last... What, then, is to be his resource? Will he, even when so badly wounded by the archers, turn to God and throw himself on His mercy?... Sadly, in this hour of hopeless distress, he does not turn to God. He had been meeting the enemy with his own sword — a figure, we may say, of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now he turns it against his own chest and falls on it. He becomes the first suicide of whom we have a definite record in Scripture.
The man beside Saul refuses the order, then copies the act. An earlier armour-bearer in the same book shows up the difference.
The armour-bearer refused to do this. He seems to have had some sense of what was due to God and to the high office Saul held. But compare this armour-bearer with the one who so bravely followed Jonathan. Those two faced the whole Philistine army alone. What a fall we have here! All he does is copy Saul in his suicide.
One writer traces Saul's ruin back to the command he had refused to obey — the destruction of Amalek.
His sin was the sparing of Amalek — we say again, the type of the flesh... His disobedience ended in self-destruction. Such is sin. And an Amalekite made the end of him. Sin allowed and followed will do its dreadful work in the end, just as this Amalekite, spared by Saul, ends his life.
Commentators differ on that Amalekite. Some take his account of killing Saul as true. Others hold that David saw straight through him:
Here the Word itself convicts this man of lying. Saul had leaned on his sword, and it was not the horsemen but the archers who had threatened him (1 Sam. 31:3-4). The rest of his account is a bare-faced lie.
- Spared sin. The enemy Saul refused to destroy comes back to destroy him — sin allowed will do its work in the end.
- Judgment lands. What God announced through Samuel, He now carries out. When it lands, all Saul's strength gives way to terror.
- Fear misplaced. He dreads the mockery of his enemies more than he dreads God, and never once turns to Him for mercy.
- Empty badge. "These uncircumcised" is outward religion to the last. It is circumcision of heart that God respects.
- Own sword. Saul turns the weapon meant for the enemy against himself. It is the first recorded suicide in Scripture, and the man at his side copies it.
And when his armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on his sword, and died with him.
The chapter ends with Israel broken on Mount Gilboa. Verse 5 records one last death that no Philistine caused: the man who carried the king's weapons takes his own life the moment he sees his master dead. Why does a servant who has just refused to kill Saul turn the same blade on himself?
The armour-bearer was not a nameless extra. The role carried standing, and one famous man had filled it for Saul.
An attendant on a warrior, filling a place of trust and honour. When Saul loved David he made him his armour-bearer (1 Sam. 16:21). When Saul was wounded, his armour-bearer refused to kill him; but when Saul was dead the armour-bearer fell upon his sword and died also (1 Sam. 31:5).
The man's one honourable act was a refusal. But measure him against the armour-bearer of an earlier chapter, and the decline in Israel is visible in a single figure.
He did not, however, meet his death by the arrow. He was badly wounded — or, as it may be rendered, he "writhed in pain because of the archers." He knew that his fighting was over. Under these circumstances, he calls to his armour-bearer to put him out of his misery. The armour-bearer refused to do it, with some sense, it seems, of what was due to God and to the high office Saul held. But compare this armour-bearer with the one who so bravely followed Jonathan. The two of them faced the whole Philistine army alone. What a fall we have! All he does is imitate Saul in his suicide.
Saul had a choice before the servant copied him. The sword in his hand carried a meaning beyond the battlefield.
Will he, even when so badly wounded by the archers, turn to God and throw himself on His mercy?... In this hour of hopeless distress, he does not turn to God. He had been meeting the enemy with his own sword — a figure, we may say, of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now he turns that sword against his own chest and falls upon it. He becomes the first suicide of whom we have a definite record in Scripture. He comes to his end, so far as his responsibility is concerned, by his own hand.
Some readers stumble here. Later, a young Amalekite tells David that he killed Saul. Commentators do not treat that as a clash of accounts, and they see no accident in who finished him.
First Saul asked his armour-bearer to kill him; he refused. Then he fell upon his sword but was not wholly successful. In anguish he leaned upon his spear. When the Amalekite came along, Saul told him that his life was still in him (2 Sam. 1:9), and the man killed him. His sin was the sparing of Amalek... His disobedience ended in self-destruction. Such is sin. And an Amalekite made the end of him. Sin allowed and followed will do its dreadful work in the end, as this Amalekite, spared by Saul, ends his life.
What killed the armour-bearer was attachment.
Saul's armour-bearer, however, was so devoted to Saul that Saul's example moved him to commit suicide also.
He was not the only man on that hill who paid for standing on the wrong side. Jonathan loved David, yet stayed where his father was.
Many difficulties beset Jonathan's path because he did not take the outside place with David. His delight in David was not enough to spare him the consequences of being associated with his father in the day of testing. Had he been in the place of rejection with David, he would have had to share David's hardships and disappointments, but he would have been spared the humiliating defeat of Mount Gilboa, which put an end to all his hopes of sharing David's place of honour when he came to the throne.
Both men died to escape humiliation. Neither escaped it.
Saul and his armour-bearer take their own lives to escape the enemy's abuse. The fear of God, had it been before their eyes, would have prevented them from doing so. A dead Saul does not feel the abuse but undergoes it nonetheless... God remains silent, as though indifferent to all this ruin; one might believe He had been overcome by man.
That silence was not defeat. The collapse on Gilboa was the doorway to another reign.
It was a dark day for Israel... By its last hour he would be dead, and his sons with him. Israel's power would be broken, its armies scattered, fear and dread on all! What an astonishing prelude to the glory and power of the coming king and the peaceful supremacy of his son. This was God's wise way of bringing in His chosen king and preparing the kingdom. His purpose was that all Israel would acknowledge Him as the source of all power and glory.
- Office — Carrying the king's armour was a post of trust and honour; David himself once held it for Saul.
- Refusal — The servant would not strike his king, but that one right instinct was not followed by a second.
- Imitation — Devotion to Saul made Saul's example his own; the leader's last act became the follower's.
- Outcome — Both men died to avoid shame and met it anyway; the fear of God would have held their hands.
- Purpose — God's silence over the ruin was not defeat: Gilboa cleared the ground for His chosen king, so all Israel would credit Him with all power and glory.
So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armour-bearer, and all his men, that same day together.
One sentence ends the book of 1 Samuel and sweeps away a whole royal house in a single day. Was this only a lost battle, or a judgment announced long before — and why did Jonathan die in it?
The death is not a surprise ending. Samuel had already told Saul what this day would bring:
How truly the prophet had warned! How exactly every word came true! So fell Saul and his house.
Another writer traces the fall back to a rejection years earlier:
He rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord had rejected him. His sin had already gone before him to judgment — no inquiry needed to be made about it now. Every stage of his evil reign had declared it, and now he has only to meet the judgment... For it was the Lord, and not the Philistines, who had a controversy with him.
His dishonoured death matched the way he had lived:
He was "the man after the flesh." That tells the whole story. In all his life he seems never to have been truly brought into the presence of God. His activities were all of the flesh, and his way of looking at things was only according to man, and the glaring light of man's day. Defeated on Mount Gilboa, he is a suicide at last, and after his death he becomes the sport of the enemies of the Lord.
Saul's strength had drained away before the archers ever found him:
From the moment the sinner finds himself before God's judgment, all his strength leaves him and gives way to terror. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31), when someone has made a profession of faith and then given it up. Saul wants to die to escape this nameless anguish. Instead he throws himself into an agony of a completely different kind — into the torments of the unseen world, where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.
His armour-bearer dies in the same way. One writer names what was missing in both men:
Saul and his armour-bearer take their own lives to escape the enemy's abuse. The fear of God, had it been before their eyes, would have prevented them from doing so. A dead Saul does not feel the abuse but undergoes it all the same.
Jonathan is one of the three sons named in the verse before. He dies here because of where he chose to stand:
Jonathan mixed what was real in him with an outward conformity to Saul, and perished with his father — but not by his own hand.
That choice cost him, and Gilboa only brought the cost into the open:
Jonathan was a great loser by the course he took. He gave up much communion with David and many opportunities of real service. Gilboa only made clear what was true before — that judgment was on the whole system. How necessary, then, was the blow that fell there! It was necessary for the truth of God. It was necessary for David's glory. It was painfully necessary for poor Jonathan himself. And it was surely necessary for our profit, if only we will profit by it.
The verse leaves Israel with no king and no army:
Saul perishes on Mount Gilboa, and Israel suffers a severe defeat. The Philistines take possession of the neighbouring cities, and everything collapses completely in the land. Three of Saul's sons perish with him. There is now no anointed of the Lord but David.
One writer sees a settled pattern here in the way God works:
It is characteristic of God's ways at all times with those He is about to bless abundantly. The fruits of sin are allowed to ripen; then, when all seems lost, God appears and gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
- The day announced. Samuel's warning came true word for word. The battle carried out a sentence already passed.
- The day's real opponent. The Lord, not the Philistines, had the controversy with Saul. Every stage of his reign had declared the verdict.
- The day flesh failed. The man who lived by the flesh ends by his own sword. Strength drains away the moment judgment arrives.
- The day loyalty cost. Jonathan gave up closeness with David to stay beside Saul, and fell where Saul fell.
- The day that cleared a throne. Everything falls, and only David is left anointed. God lets ruin ripen, then gives beauty for ashes.