The Death of King Saul and Jonathan.
1 Samuel 31 & 2 Samuel 1

1 Samuel 28:17-19 (NLT)
The LORD has done just as he said he would. He has torn the kingdom from you
and given it to your rival, David. 18 The LORD has done this to you today
because you refused to carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites. 19
What’s more, the LORD will hand you and the army of Israel over to the
Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me. The LORD will
bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat.”
1 Samuel 31:1-13 NLT
Now the Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them. Many
were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines closed in on
Saul and his sons, and they killed three of his sons—Jonathan, Abinadab, and
Malkishua. 3 The fighting grew very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine archers
caught up with him and wounded him severely.
4 Saul groaned to his armor bearer, “Take your sword and kill me before these
pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me.”
But his armor bearer was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword
and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer realized that Saul was dead, he fell on his
own sword and died beside the king. 6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer,
and his troops all died together that same day.
7 When the Israelites on the other side of the Jezreel Valley and beyond the
Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons were
dead, they abandoned their towns and fled. So the Philistines moved in and
occupied their towns.
8 The next day, when the Philistines went out to strip the dead, they found the
bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they cut off Saul’s head
and stripped off his armor. Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul’s death
in their pagan temple and to the people throughout the land of Philistia. 10 They
placed his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to
the wall of the city of Beth-shan.
11 But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to
Saul, 12 all their mighty warriors traveled through the night to Beth-shan and took
the bodies of Saul and his sons down from the wall. They brought them to
Jabesh, where they burned the bodies. 13 Then they took their bones and buried
them beneath the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.
1. First Samuel began with a miraculous birth and ends with a brutal death.
1 Samuel 1:27-28 (NLT)

I asked the LORD to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. 28 Now I
am giving him to the LORD, and he will belong to the LORD his whole life.” And
they worshiped the LORD there.
1 Chronicles 10:13-14 (NLT)
So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD. He failed to obey the
LORD’s command, and he even consulted a medium 14 instead of asking the
LORD for guidance. So the LORD killed him and turned the kingdom over to
David son of Jesse.
2 Samuel 1:1-10
After the death of Saul, David returned from his victory over the Amalekites and
spent two days in Ziklag. 2 On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s army
camp. He had torn his clothes and put dirt on his head to show that he was in
mourning. He fell to the ground before David in deep respect.
3 “Where have you come from?” David asked. “I escaped from the Israelite
camp,” the man replied. 4 “What happened?” David demanded. “Tell me how the
battle went.” The man replied, “Our entire army fled from the battle. Many of the
men are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”
5 “How do you know Saul and Jonathan are dead?” David demanded of the
young man.
6 The man answered, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and there was Saul
leaning on his spear with the enemy chariots and charioteers closing in on him. 7
When he turned and saw me, he cried out for me to come to him. ‘How can I
help?’ I asked him.
8 “He responded, ‘Who are you?’ “‘I am an Amalekite,’ I told him. 9 “Then he
begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible
pain and want to die.’
10 “So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, “for I knew he couldn’t live. Then I
took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord.”
2. David loved Saul and Jonathan and he humbly mourned their death.
2 Samuel 1:11-12 NLT
David and his men tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news. 12
They mourned and wept and fasted all day for Saul and his son Jonathan, and
for the LORD’s army and the nation of Israel, because they had died by the
sword that day.
Proverbs 24:17-18 (NLT)
Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.
18 For the LORD will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from
them.

Obadiah 1:12 (NLT)
“You should not have gloated when they exiled your relatives to distant lands.
You should not have rejoiced when the people of Judah suffered such
misfortune. You should not have spoken arrogantly in that terrible time of trouble.
2 Samuel 1:13-16 NLT
Then David said to the young man who had brought the news, “Where are you
from?” And he replied, “I am a foreigner, an Amalekite, who lives in your land.”
14 “Why were you not afraid to kill the LORD’s anointed one?” David asked.
15 Then David said to one of his men, “Kill him!” So the man thrust his sword into
the Amalekite and killed him. 16 “You have condemned yourself,” David said, “for
you yourself confessed that you killed the LORD’s anointed one.”
Job 5:12 (NLT)
He frustrates the plans of schemers so the work of their hands will not succeed.
3. David was honorable by not writing about Saul’s jealousy and hatred.
2 Samuel 1:17-27 (NLT)
Then David composed a funeral song for Saul and Jonathan, 18 and he
commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah. It is known as the Song of
the Bow, and it is recorded in The Book of Jashar.
19 Your pride and joy, O Israel, lies dead on the hills! Oh, how the mighty heroes
have fallen! 20 Don’t announce the news in Gath, don’t proclaim it in the streets
of Ashkelon, or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice and the pagans will
laugh in triumph. 21 O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon
you, nor fruitful fields producing offerings of grain. For there the shield of the
mighty heroes was defiled; the shield of Saul will no longer be anointed with oil.
22 The bow of Jonathan was powerful, and the sword of Saul did its mighty work.
They shed the blood of their enemies and pierced the bodies of mighty heroes.
23 How beloved and gracious were Saul and Jonathan! They were together in
life and in death. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. 24 O women
of Israel, weep for Saul, for he dressed you in luxurious scarlet clothing, in
garments decorated with gold. 25 Oh, how the mighty heroes have fallen in
battle! Jonathan lies dead on the hills.
26 How I weep for you, my brother Jonathan! Oh, how much I loved you! And
your love for me was deep, deeper than the love of women! 27 Oh, how the
mighty heroes have fallen! Stripped of their weapons, they lie dead.