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I Samuel
Chapter 31
{First
Apparent Use of Oblique Order of Battle}
1~~Now
the Philistines 'eagerly fought' {lacham - Niphal stem}
{See Chapter 28 or strategic situation - Saul's logistics were poor
and their strategy was excellent - now comes the tactics (defeat
of Saul)}
against
Israel {about 1004BC}
and
the men of Israel
kept
on 'fleeing in sections' {nuwc - imperfect tense}
{rolled them up like a carpet from one section fleeing into the
other}
from
before the Philistines,
and
kept on falling down 'fatally wounded'
{about 5 miles of constant destruction of the Jewish Army in
retreat}
on
the side of mount Gilboa
{actually the mountain range of Gilboa}.
{Note: The Greeks are credited with creating the Oblique order of battle, but RBT says the terrain here and the results indicate that the Oblique Order of battle was used here by the Philistines. All the contact was made on the left flank and wiped out the left flank of the Jews who fled into the center messing up their order and rolled them up like a carpet.}
{Philistine
Vigorous Pursuit}
{Saul's
Army has Two Rear Guard Defenses - Their Best Generals -
Saul
leading One Group and the Other by His Sons}
2~~And
the Philistines pursued vigorously
upon
Saul {one rear guard action}
and
upon his sons {the other rear guard action}.
And
the Philistines slew
Jonathan,
and Abinadab, and Melchishua
{apparently order they were killed},
Saul's
sons.
{Note: Jonathan was probably David's truest and most faithful friend - I Samuel 15:20-23. So this is a great loss for David also in many ways.}
{Final
Rear Guard}
3~~And
the battle went heavily/poorly against Saul.
Now
the 'men shooting bows'/archers 'found his range'
and
opened fire
therefore
he {Saul} 'writhed in horrible pain'
because
of the archers.
{Note: In the Septuagint, what was translated into the Greek language 200 years before Christ, was the phrase - 'in the abdomen' - 'gut shot'. Anyway, the extreme pain is also obvious in the Hebrew. So, this indicates Saul is dying the 'sin unto death'. Neglect doctrine in life, count on a miserable death.}
{The
True Death Scene of Saul - Suicide - Spiritually Broken and Now
Physically in Agony}
4a~~Then
Saul screamed to his adjutant/'armor-bearer' {nasa'},
"Draw
your sword, and stab me!
{Imperative mood - This is an order! - kill me, kill me quickly!}
For
fear that these uncircumcised {Philistines}
advance
and both stab and 'torture and abuse' me
{Saul fears a slow and painful torture before they kill him}."
4b~~But
his adjutant/'armor-bearer' {nasa'}
was
not willing
{refused the order of his king}
because
he was 'extremely frightened'/'petrified with fear'.
Consequently
Saul kept on seizing/pulling on his sword,
and
kept on falling upon it.
{Note: The logical result of years of superceding God's will for his own is the final act of the same - suicide.}
{Note: See also I Chronicles Chapter 10:13-14 for why did Saul die.}
5~~And
when his adjutant/'armor-bearer' {nasa'}
kept
on seeing that Saul had died,
he
kept on falling
{indicates a bad job - may have taken a couple of tries}
likewise
upon his sword,
that
he might die with him.
{Note: This man had not even drawn his sword in the middle of all this action. This was probably the most patriotic act this man did. But again the suicide indicates he also was acting on his desires instead of God's will for him.}
6~~So
Saul has died,
and
his three sons,
and
his adjutant/'armor-bearer' {nasa'},
and
all his men,
that
same day . . . together.
{Principal
of Freedom through Military Victory - Negative Example}
7~~And
when the 'men of Israel'
who
were on the other side of the valley
{on this side of the Jordan were the civilians},
and
they who were beyond the Jordan,
saw/'kept
on receiving the news'
that
the 'men of Israel' {the military this time}
had
fled/retreated {nuwc},
and
that Saul and his sons had died {muwth},
they
abandoned the cities, and fled
{roads filled with refugees - when their military loses
those who remain are usually experience rape, torture, slavery and
murder}.
And
the Philistines kept on coming
and
'kept on dwelling in prosperity' {yashab} in them
{means the Philistines took over the cities of the Jews and all the
people and goods in them}.
{Note: 'Fled' and 'Dead' are the verbs of military defeat. If a country values it freedom and its free enterprise, it will know the value of a strong military. A lot of money in the bank will do a refugee or an occupied people very little good. Those things will soon disappear.}
8~~And
it came to pass 'the next day'/'on the morrow'
{war is a tiring business, so they slept first},
when
the Philistines came to plunder the slain/'dead soldiers'
{taking booty - armor, weapons, etc.},
that
they discovered Saul {found him first}
and
his three sons {further up the mountain}
fallen
on {the slopes of} mount Gilboa.
9~~And
they cut off his head
{Saul's head - imperfect tense - this took a while},
and
stripped off his amour,
and
sent into the land of the Philistines round about,
to
'announce the good news'
in
the house of their idols
{Saul went to the witch of Endor before his death
now his head goes to visit more fallen angels},
and
among the people.
{Note: The custom was to put the head of the great leader on a spear and go from city to city pronouncing the good news that their enemy was dead.}
{Bodies
Hung Up to Challenge the Jews - Who could come and Take them down?}
10~~And
they put his amour in the house of Ashtaroth.
And
they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.
{Note: The main God of Philistia was Dagon - god of agriculture and war - head of a man and trunk of a fish. The second god was to Ashtaroth. Ashtaroth was the Venus of the Philistines - the Phallic Cult - the goddess of love. Saul's head is in the temple of Dagon in Bethshan per I Chronicles 10:10.}
11-12~~And
when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead
{see I Samuel Chapter 11 where Saul defended the cowardly men of
Jabesh, in the area of Gilead. Now they are courageous men - the
change must have been from 16 years of intake of doctrine}
heard
{shama`} of that which the Philistines
had
done /manufactured {`asah} to Saul; 12~~
all
the 'valiant men'/'men of integrity' got up
{chayil 'iysh - means fully - men of 'virtue, valor, strength,
integrity' - battle and moral courage combined into one - only
comes from doctrine in the soul},
and
walked all night {about 12 miles/20 kilometers},
and
seized the body of Saul
and
the bodies of his sons
from
the wall of Bethshan.
So
they returned to Jabesh,
and
{partially} burnt
{saraph - imperfect tense - burn flesh from skeleton}
them
there.
13~~And
they took their bones,
and
buried them under a tamarisk tree
{'eshel - is a Tamarisk tree which is a small tough tree, more like
a bush. This is a dry desert vallye. So, if a Tamarisk tree could
survive this climate it must be strong! This is an honor to Saul.}
at
Jabesh
{even though Saul died by suicide in disgrace - these men of
integrity are not embarrassed - they did this based on doctrine in
their souls not based on who or what Saul was at the end of his
life},
and
fasted
{tsuwm - went without food}
seven
days
{to 'fast' normally means to study doctrine (and here thought about
Saul in retrospect) instead of doing things they would
normally - such as to eat. This does NOT mean to just
go without a meal that is ritual without reality and therefore
meaningless}.
{Note:
RBT says that Psalm 26 and 11 were written between the periods
covered by I Samuel and II Samuel.}
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