1 Samuel Chapter 31

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel, etc.] Being come to Jezreel where Israel pitched, (<092901>1 Samuel 29:1,11); they fell upon them, began the battle: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines; at the first onset, as it should seem: and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa; which was near, and whither fleeing they were pursued and slain, at least great numbers of them.”

“SAUL HAVING LOST HIS ARMY AT GILBOA, AND HIS SONS BEING SLAIN, HE AND HIS ARMOR-BEARER KILL THEMSELVES. (Sa1 31:1-7) Now the Philistines fought against Israel--In a regular engagement, in which the two armies met (Sa1 28:1-4), the Israelites were forced to give way, being annoyed by the arrows of the enemy, which, destroying them at a distance before they came to close combat, threw them into panic and disorder. Taking advantage of the heights of Mount Gilboa, [the Israelites] attempted to rally, but in vain. Saul and his sons fought like heroes; but the onset of the Philistines being at length mainly directed…”

“He was sore wounded - Better, “he was sore afraid” (compare Deuteronomy 2:25). Saul’s fear is explained in 1 Samuel 31:4. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Jonathan - David's dear friend; God so ordering it for the farther exercise of David's faith and patience; and that David might depend upon God alone for his crown, and receive it solely from him, and not from Jonathan; who doubtless, had he lived, would have speedily settled the crown upon David's head. There was also a special providence of God, in taking away Jonathan, (who of all Saul's sons, seems to have been the fairest for the crown) for preventing divisions, which might have happened amongst the people concerning the successor: David's way to the crown being by this means made the more clear. Abinadab -…”

“31:1-13 While David was in the south successfully fighting the Amalekites (ch 30), Saul was in the north unsuccessfully fighting the Philistines. 31:1 The Israelites fled southeast from the Jezreel Valley (29:1) to higher and hillier ground. With their chariots, the Philistines had the advantage in the more level valley. • Mount Gilboa is southwest of the Sea of Galilee, far from the territory of the Philistines.”

“the Philistines: Sa1 28:1, Sa1 28:15, Sa1 29:1 fell down: Sa1 12:25; Ch1 10:1-12 slain: Heb. wounded Gilboa: Eusebius and Jerome place this mountain six miles west from Bethshan, where was a large place called Gelbus. The natives still call it Djebel Gilbo. Sa1 28:4; Sa2 1:21 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 31:2”

“The account of the war between the Philistines and Israel, the commencement of which has already been mentioned in Sa1 28:1, Sa1 28:4., and Sa1 29:1, is resumed in Sa1 31:1 in a circumstantial clause; and to this there is attached a description of the progress and result of the battle, more especially with reference to Saul. Consequently, in Ch1 10:1, where there had been no previous allusion to the war, the participle נלחמים is changed into the perfect. The following is the way in which we should express the circumstantial clause: "Now when the Philistines were fighting against Israel, the men of Israel fled…”