1 Samuel 31:1

Mountain range where Saul and Jonathan were slain... When the news reached David he exclaimed, "You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings." It is judged to be on the south-west of the valley of Jezreel.

But the last chapter (1 Samuel 31) unveils a far different sight. It shows the sad signs of the Philistines' victory over Saul and his sons, who fell down slain on Mount Gilboa... "So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armour-bearer, and all his men, that same day together." How truly the prophet had warned! How exactly every word came true! So fell Saul and his house.

It is enough for us that disobedience here meets its doom under God's government. The word of Samuel about the outcome of the battle had to be fulfilled, whatever the strength of the two armies might be. Napoleon is reported to have said that God was on the side of the heaviest guns. Poor man, he lived to find out at last that God was not on his side.

The day has come for Saul to go down into battle and die. The Philistines fight against Israel and find no resistance. We know that Saul was completely demoralised. He could only expect that his armies would share the same hopeless fear. Israel fled before the enemy and the Philistines were able to slaughter them without restraint.

The victory of the Philistines is, for the time being, complete. The terrified Israelites leave their homes and their cities to the conquerors, who live in them. Every defeat by the enemy becomes an occupation of territory that ought to belong to the people of God.

After Saul's genealogy, we find only the account of his death, told almost word for word (1 Chron. 10:1-12) from 1 Samuel 31. But the Spirit of God adds a very remarkable extra passage in verses 13-14: "Saul died for his unfaithfulness against the LORD. He did not keep the word of the LORD. He also asked a medium for guidance, and did not ask the LORD; therefore He slew him." In this passage God explains the reason for His final judgment upon Saul, the same as that upon every sinful man: disobedience and departure from God.

Saul was the man of the people's choice, but he was a dreadful disappointment. His dishonoured death matches his unhappy life... As another has well described him, he was "the man after the flesh." That tells the whole story. In all his life he seems never to have truly been brought into the presence of God. His activities were all of the flesh. He saw everything only as man sees it, in the harsh light of man's day. Defeated on Mount Gilboa, he is a suicide at last.

What grace that God prevented David from going with Achish! If he had laid his hand on Saul, he could not have uttered the lament he composed on the subject of his death.