I Samuel 31 (2026

[music] Well, hey everybody. Pastor [music] Steve here. Thank you for joining me today for this devotion from 1st Samuel 31 as we wrap up the book of 1st Samuel and and get ready to start the book of uh 2 Samuel.

So, this is a is a tragic chapter. It really is u a tragic end to the nation of Israel's first king Saul who because of his sin had been rejected by God and this end had been foretold by the prophet Samuel. But anyway he leads the Israelites into battle against the Philistines.

They lose the battle. Um his sons are killed in the battle. Saul himself is seriously injured and wants his uh personal body armor or to uh to kill him.

So the Philistines wouldn't find him alive and torture him, but his armor bearer refuses to do so out of respect for the king. And Saul commits suicide by falling on his sword. Uh he's beheaded couple days later when the Philistines find him and his head is paraded uh around various cities and towns in in of of the Philistines to celebrate and show that they won against the Israelites and his body as well as those of his sons are nailed to the wall of a city named Bethshan which was not part of Israel during Saul's days.

uh some years in the future when uh David is king, he would capture that town and make it part of u of his kingdom. And of course, Saul and his son's bodies are rescued and uh cremated and the bones buried. So that's the story uh in this chapter.

I want you to note that in verse four when Saul asked his armor bearer to uh to kill him so he wouldn't be tortured by the Philistines that um his armor bearer refused. Um um and and then took his own life after Saul took his life. And it's interesting to me that here's this man serving the king.

A king who had such shallow respect for God, who disobeyed God, didn't trust God, was rejected by God. But this armor bearer had the same level of of respect for for God's anointed for God's chosen king as as David had. Remember those two occasions when David could have killed Saul and did not out of respect for the fact that Saul was God's chosen, God's anointed.

Here's this armor bearer has the same type of respect and uh you know it's it it's we're not given his name but it says a lot about his character even though he was serving a wicked king. In [snorts] verse 9 they cut off his head and that's a gruesome thing gruesome thing rather it's gross and gruesome uh but it was very common in the ancient world they would uh parade the head around. They would often cut off uh the heads of the leaders or several of the soldiers in their hands to as evidence of victory and as a way as a form of psychological war warfare.

There are many many records in ancient times of various civilizations doing such a thing. I remember uh two three years ago Monise and I one June were in New Orleans attending the Southern Baptist Convention. So, we went down early uh for a few days to vacation and we uh we toured a plantation on the the the northwest side of New Orleans on the Mississippi River um that had been turned into a plantation museum, if you will, that looked at everything strictly from the point of view of slaves.

And while there, I learned about the largest slave revolt in American history that took place in 1811 in New Orleans when 300 or more slaves uh along the German plantations on the Mississippi uh revolted and were marching toward New Orleans. They were met obviously with military resistance and the revolt was put down and and uh they were executed, but about 100 of those slaves were beheaded and their heads placed on stakes, if you will, on tall poles along the Mississippi River for 40 or more miles as a warning to other other slaves. So, what happened to Saul is not unheard of in human history.

just not even unheard of in American history. Um [clears throat] and um verses 11-13, I want to point that out to just a couple more things in this chapter that I really like. In verses um 11 and following, these men go and get u Saul's body and the bodies of his sons and bring them back and burn them and then bury the bones.

This was two things here. one, it was it was a sign of respect for their king and his sons, for their leaders. Even though Saul was a wicked king, they were still showing respect for him and the position that he was in.

Now, the bones being buried is because a natural fire is not hot enough to burn human bones. There has to be a special way of of of heating fire up to about 70 75% hotter than a common fire that you build with wood or anything else. It'll burn the flesh and so on, but it won't burn the bones unless you heat it up quite a bit more.

So, they out of respect get the bodies, they cremate them, and then they [clears throat] bury his bones. And that idea of respect um follows over with with with Jonathan as well. I want us to look at look at verse two.

The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Mal Malachi, the sons of Saul. Look at verse six.

Verse six. And they cut off his head. That's Saul's.

And stripped off his weapons and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines. Now bear in mind the crown is not mentioned because that'll come up in first 2 Samuel chapter 1 but but his head and his his his weapons uh and they did that to carry the the good news and they [clears throat] put uh they put some of that stuff in the houses in the temples where they worshiped their idols. Verse eight um I'm jumping around a little bit, aren't I?

Um well verse six I I'm reading the wrong verse. Verse 6, Saul died with his three sons and his armor bearer, etc. Verse 8, it came about on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain that they found Saul and his three sons and they, of course, they they cut off the head of Saul and so on.

And then in verse 12, uh, those valiant men go just all the respect there. But Jonathan, Jonathan's killed, his body's nailed to the wall. These uh Jewish men bring his body along with his brothers and dad [snorts] and uh cremate them and bury his bones.

Jonathan deserved better. There's no other way to say it. Jonathan deserved better.

He was loyal to God. Never turned his back on God. Was faithful to God, to God's will.

He accepted God's will. Accepted God's plan. But he was also loyal to his father.

loved his father who at times was wicked and and and tried to kill David who was wicked and didn't always listen to the prophet Samuel who was wicked and didn't always obey God and wait on God and was rejected by God. And yet here is Jonathan his son submitting to the will of God for David to be the new king. And yet he's loyal to his father.

He's able to do both. He didn't dishonor his dad. He did not dishonor his dad through all of this.

He did not dishonor his father. Um, but Saul, Saul's self-c centeredness, his selfishness, his paranoia cost his son, cost Jonathan. And yet Jonathan honored his dad.

And I think that's a word important for people in our culture today to hear because there's there's this modern movement of so many uh young adults um cutting ties with their parents and calling their parents toxic. Now, you know, if a parent is physically abusive and sexually abusive and other things of that are of a severe nature, I get it. I understand that.

But it's [clears throat] like there's a generation today being instructed by counselors and by uh online videos and books and so on to just cut off their parents if their parents hurt their feelings. if their parents disagree with them, if their parents ever did something they didn't is and and and and rather than learning how to work through relationships, how to work through hurt feelings, how to work through hard times, how to forgive and and mold a relationship, they just cut their parents off. You're toxic.

And I'm I'm going to say something that is that is sinful. It is ungodly. It is unbiblical.

It is lazy. It is cheap. It is cowardly.

It is immature. It is selfish. Because love figures out how to forgive, how to work through.

And by the way, when you were growing up, you weren't always easy to live with e either. Maybe your parents just cut you off. Maybe you're the toxic one.

And I'm being a little bit forceful here. Because this [clears throat] modern trend is so ungodly and so cowardly, it's disgusting. And there's a whole generation of people that are going to wake up one day and regret it because they're going to find out their kids are treating them the same way they treated their parents.

And it's going to be a sad, sad day. God's command is to be like Jonathan. He honored his dad who always was not worthy of honor, but he honored him because he honored God first.

There's too many in our generation today, the only person they honor is themsel and they think they're being healthy and they're really just being selfish. Well, that's [music] my little sermon for today. I'll see you uh tomorrow as we uh wrap up this week and start looking at at 2 Samuel.

See you then, everybody.