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.